


Your Affection

by toomanyunfinishedfics



Category: Persona 4
Genre: Aladdin AU, Also indirect spoilers, Alternate Universe - No Personas (Persona Series), Alternate Universe - Soulmates, And because she's precious and deserves it, Arcana swap (not AU), As in yes I essentially crammed the entire Disney movie into one 13k long chapter, Background Chie/Yukiko, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Nanako gets her own character tag because she has her own prompt, Not tagging the rest of the IT since they'll only have sparse appearances, Pre-Relationship, Relationship Reveal, Sickfic, Since I made the True Killer the villain for this AU, Souyo Week 2019, with a twist of course
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-26
Updated: 2019-06-01
Packaged: 2020-03-18 00:43:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 26,689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18975469
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toomanyunfinishedfics/pseuds/toomanyunfinishedfics
Summary: Seven instances where the line between partners andpartner-partners became a little gray.





	1. Day One: Soulmates

**Author's Note:**

> Soooo I kind of literally just found out that [SouYo week](https://souyoweek2019.tumblr.com/) starts today lmao I’ve never opened gdocs so fast in my life
> 
> I'm going to do my best to try and get all the prompts done on time but we'll see how that goes lol

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's an AU where the murders never happened, there's no TV world/Personas, and the Midnight Channel actually shows your soulmate

Yosuke didn’t believe in soulmates. It was a romanticized idea that made no logical sense--how could someone be _destined_ to be with another person? Either you were attracted to someone or you weren’t, or you fell in love with someone or you didn’t. Destiny didn’t control people getting together, and anyone who believed in something like that was just looking for something other than themselves to blame when they couldn’t get a date.

Or at least, that’s what Yosuke told himself.

When Chie had talked his and the transfer student’s ears off about the Midnight Channel, Yosuke hadn’t planned on actually humoring her and watching it. It just so happened that he had a TV in his room, and it just so happened that he was up late playing games on his phone, _and_ it just so happened that he looked over at the TV when it suddenly flickered to life with an eerie sound and a yellowish light.

Not that he would have been able to ignore that even if he’d tried.

He shot up off his bed, nearly stumbling over his own feet in his haste to approach the TV and get a better look at what he was half-convinced was a dream, or a prank from Chie, or _something_ other than the Midnight Channel actually existing.

Despite all his big talk, in the end Yosuke couldn’t help but suspend his disbelief for a moment and get a bit excited when the image on the screen gradually began to grow clearer--though it didn’t appear to be Saki-senpai, sadly, he still couldn’t help but feel eager to see what girl the universe claimed he was destined to be with. Maybe it was even someone he knew, though then again that might be awkward if it was. After all, it wasn’t like he could just walk up to someone and say _hey, I saw you on a TV show that supposedly shows people their soulmates, guess that means we should go on a date!_

Yeah, no. He could already see something like that ending in a disaster.

The silhouette of the person’s hair looked a bit similar to Chie’s, but the person’s build was completely different, and short hair immediately ruled out Yukiko (not that he had enough courage to attempt the Amagi Challenge again, soulmate or not).... Maybe it was another senpai, or even one of the first year girls, or--

“You’ve _got_ to be kidding me.”

As soon as the image cleared, it was obvious that the person on the screen wasn’t a girl at all: it was a _guy_ , and more importantly, it was Souji Seta--the _transfer student_ of all people.

“ _Him?_ But we’re both-- and I barely even-- _what??_ ”

The screen gave him no answers, and as if to spite him for trying to demand them in the form of physically shaking his TV, the image faded away and the light from the screen died out as if the TV hadn’t just mysteriously come to life hardly a minute ago.

“That… had to be some kind of mistake, or prank, or… or _something_ ,” Yosuke talked to himself as he distractedly stumbled back over to his bed. “There’s no way my soulmate’s a guy, let alone a guy I literally just met. I _knew_ this whole soulmate thing was a load of crap; I don’t know why I let Chie talk me into this.”

Yosuke flopped down on his bed and stared up at the ceiling.

He only knew one thing for sure:

There was no way in hell he was telling Chie what he saw.

* * *

Going to school the next day was probably one of the most painfully awkward moments of his life--thankfully not because he’d crashed into another trash can (like the one that Souji, his supposed soulmate _no he’s not my soulmate stop thinking about that stupid channel already_ had pulled him out of yesterday), but rather because he knew there was no avoiding seeing Souji, not when he sat directly in front of him in class.

Of course, the guy looked as calm and friendly as ever, giving Yosuke a small smile in greeting that Yosuke hesitantly returned even as he made a beeline for his desk.

Damn bastard probably saw a hot girl on his TV last night or something, there was no other explanation for why he could be so calm right now--unless he just didn’t watch the Midnight Channel at all, in which case Yosuke wished he’d had the foresight to do the same.

 _But wait, do soulmates go both ways? If I saw him, then does that mean he-- nope no nuh-uh I’m cutting that thought off right there, I do_ **_not_ ** _need to think about a guy seeing me as his soulmate, that’s just weird._ Yosuke rested his head in his hands, oblivious to Souji glancing at him with a pensive expression. _Though… I mean, if we both saw each other, would that be less weird than me just seeing him? Ugh, why am I even trying to think about this?! Just forget it Yosuke, put it out of your head and pretend last night didn’t happen!_

When Chie slid into her seat next to Souji, Yosuke instinctively tensed and warily looked over at her, waiting for her to broach the topic of the Midnight Channel and preemptively preparing a list of different ways to deflect her questions… except she barely even paid him or Souji any attention save for a distracted greeting, and she was pointedly keeping her gaze away from Yukiko even as Yukiko commented on her skittishness.

“What? No, I’m fine, totally fine, one-hundred percent top of my game, haha….”

Yosuke raised an eyebrow. Just who did Chie see on the Midnight Channel?

Now he was almost tempted to risk his own embarrassment if it meant teasing Chie a little.

Unfortunately, he missed his one-second window of opportunity before King Moron entered the classroom and started snapping at everyone, and Yosuke let out an annoyed sigh as he tuned him out.

At least now he had something else to think about, to distract himself from spending the day wondering who Souji’s soulmate was and questioning whether he even wanted it to be him or not.

* * *

It was odd how fate worked: though Yosuke was determined to put the whole soulmate thing out of his mind and avoid the quiet transfer student as much as possible, as if putting a physical distance between them would erase that one night of seeing Souji’s face on his TV screen, his plan hardly lasted a day before he found it impossible to say no to Souji wanting to hang out with him.

Not that the whole soulmate thing had any impact on Yosuke’s decision to say yes. Honestly, he just didn’t have very many people in his life that _wanted_ to spend time with him, so how could he say no?

… Now that he thought about it, blaming it on the whole soulmate thing might have been a bit less pathetic.

One day of hanging out turned into another, and then another, and then _another_ , and before Yosuke knew it, the two of them were practically inseparable--they were more than best friends, they were _partners_. He could say with the utmost certainty that Souji had his back just as much as he had Souji’s, or maybe even more considering how many favors Yosuke ended up calling in to him over the course of the next few months.

Souji assured him each time that he didn’t mind, and that that’s what friends were for.

Yosuke jokingly thought to himself that if Souji kept bending over backwards for him like this and going out of his way to make him feel important, he might actually end up falling for Souji, regardless of whether or not he was a guy--until it wasn’t a joke anymore, but rather a desperate attempt to keep himself from ruining the best friendship he’d ever had in his life.

Spring turned to summer, summer to fall, and finally fall turned to winter before the subject of the Midnight Channel ever came up again. To Yosuke’s surprise, it was Souji that brought the subject up as the two of them laid side by side on the chilled grass near the Samegawa.

“Chie told me that she saw Yukiko on the Midnight Channel.”

“Huh.” Months ago, Yosuke would have been surprised by the news, but considering how the two of them had recently become even closer than before, he couldn’t even pretend to be shocked. “So Yukiko’s her soulmate, huh… I never really bought into the idea myself, but I guess I could see it for them. Did Yukiko see Chie on the Midnight Channel too?”

Yosuke saw Souji nod out of the corner of his eye, and he couldn’t help but give a soft laugh as he said jokingly, “Well, at least now we all know why no one could pass the Amagi Challenge.”

Souji made a noise of acknowledgement but said nothing else, and as they lapsed back into silence, Yosuke thought that Souji was going to drop the subject entirely.

Oh how wrong he was.

“I saw you.”

Yosuke turned his gaze over to Souji, his brows furrowed in confusion and a question on the tip of his tongue before realization set in.

“Oh,” was the intelligent reply that his flatlining brain managed to come up with, though he quickly snapped out of his shocked daze as he heard Souji chuckling. “Hey, why are you laughing?!”

“Sorry, I just… I was expecting more of a response than just _oh_.”

Yosuke blushed lightly and half-heartedly hit Souji in the arm. “It’s because you sprung that on me out of nowhere. How was I _supposed_ to react?”

“I don’t know. I guess I was just bracing myself for the worst.”

Yosuke blinked, confusion taking the place of embarrassment. “What? Why?”

Souji glanced at him out of the corner of his eye before looking away. “Well… I didn’t think you’d take the idea of a guy being your soulmate very well. At least, you didn’t seem to after the first night that we all watched the Midnight Channel.”

“Wh-- how’d you know that I saw you?!” Yosuke’s blush returned full-force even as he turned on his side to better face Souji. “I never said anything!”

“Yosuke,” Souji began with a tinge of wry amusement, turning as well so they were facing one another, “you’re very expressive, even without saying anything. Plus you avoided me for a whole day after that; it was clear you were embarrassed and uncomfortable with the thought, so I never pushed the subject. I was just grateful that you were still willing to spend time with me after that--soulmate or not, I genuinely did want to be your friend.”

Yosuke had a million things he could have said--about how it shouldn’t be so easy for someone to read him, and how Souji had understood him so quickly even after only knowing him for a few days, and how he never would have turned away Souji’s friendship no matter how embarrassed he was because it was the best thing to ever happen to him--yet all he could manage was, “And you were okay with it?”

“With you being my soulmate?” Souji asked, unable to help the smile that tugged at the corners of his lips as Yosuke glanced away in embarrassment and nodded. “Well, to be honest I was a little surprised at first, but I wasn’t opposed to the idea. I just wanted to get to know you a bit better before I started really considering it.”

Yosuke forced himself to lift his gaze up to meet Souji’s, unconsciously shifting the slightest bit closer to him. “So what do you think, now that you’ve gotten to know me better?”

Souji’s eyes remained locked on Yosuke’s for what felt like an eternity, searching until he found something in Yosuke’s gaze that made his smile widen as he shifted a bit closer to Yosuke in return. “I think I’d be the luckiest person in the world if I’m destined to be with you.”

Yosuke laughed weakly, his face flooding with color even as he felt his lips twitching upward in a grin. “I’d say that should be my line, but there’s no way I could say something like that with a straight face.”

Amusement and endearment were clear in Souji’s expression as he moved an arm to drape over Yosuke’s side and lightly pressed his forehead to Yosuke’s. “But you feel the same?”

In lieu of a response, Yosuke cleared the small distance between their lips, letting his actions speak the words that he was too flustered to say.

As Souji returned the kiss, the world seemed to melt away around them, until only one coherent thought remained:

Maybe there was such a thing as _soulmates_ after all--and if there was, he was glad that Souji was his.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if the ending seems rushed, I'm no good at writing endings lmao;; Honestly I'm surprised I managed to get this written and posted in the three hours between now and when I woke up, rolled out of bed, and saw people posting SouYo week stuff skjfld I hope it was good and I'll try and make the rest of the week's chapters even better ;u;


	2. Day Two: Partner

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was originally going to do Confession and just tie the Partner prompt in at the beginning, but then Souji and Yosuke just took over and started doing their own thing so I just shrugged and went along for the ride lmao

“When did you start calling Souji ‘partner’?”

Yosuke paused with his drink halfway to his mouth at Chie’s question, his brows furrowed in confusion from the sudden inquiry. It was just him, Chie, and Souji today, the rest of the Investigation Team too busy with prior obligations to join them at the food court, so it was less of a meeting and more of just the three of them killing some time with a late lunch and some idle conversation--which Yosuke appreciated at the moment, since Chie’s question would have no doubt started a whole group-wide debate if everyone else was around to hear it.

Instead of trying to think of an answer, he merely responded with a question of his own. “Why?”

Chie shrugged, pausing to take a bite of her burger and speaking after she swallowed. “Just curious. I mean, I know you weren’t calling him that when he first got to Inaba, but now I kinda can’t picture you _not_ calling him that, y’know?”

Souji hummed quietly in agreement. “Now that she mentions it, I can’t remember when exactly you started calling me ‘partner’ either,” he admitted sheepishly.

Yosuke opened his mouth, intending on teasing Souji for forgetting something as important as the first time they went from friends to _partners_ , only to flush as he realized that he couldn’t recall the exact moment either.

“It was… after I got my Persona, I think?” Yosuke replied, scratching the back of his head. “Or wait, maybe it was when we decided to work together to solve the murder case….”

“So you don’t remember either!” Chie accused, lifting a french fry and pointing it at him accusingly.

Yosuke huffed. “Okay, so maybe I don’t remember the _exact_ moment, but what’s important is Souji was alright with it, so I… I dunno. I guess I just kept rolling with it after that.”

Souji smiled slightly. “Of course I was alright with it. I’d never had a best friend before, let alone a partner. It made me happy.” He lightly bumped his shoulder against Yosuke’s as he added, “Still does.”

“Jeez, way to pile on the sap, partner…,” Yosuke muttered, a smile on his face despite the embarrassed heat coloring his cheeks.

Chie eyed the two of them thoughtfully for a moment before speaking. “Y’know… to be honest, when you first started calling him ‘partner’, I kiiiinda thought you two were… well… _together_.”

Yosuke had made the unfortunate decision to take a drink just as Chie began to speak, resulting in him choking on his soda in shock and nearly spitting the drink out.

“You _what?_ ” he just barely managed to get out in between coughs, shooting Souji a grateful look as he rubbed his back to help ease the choking fit.

Chie put her hands up in a gesture of peace. “I mean, what was I supposed to think?! The word has connotations, and you two seemed really close out of nowhere, so….”

Yosuke groaned, letting his flushed face fall forward against the table. “Please tell me no one else was thinking that too.”

“Uhhhh… no one else was thinking that too?”

Souji chuckled as Yosuke let out another, louder groan and gave him a pat on the shoulder. “It’s not the end of the world, Yosuke. Besides, I’m sure everyone already realized that it was a misunderstanding by now.”

Something about Souji’s words made Yosuke sit up--or maybe it was his tone, calm and collected as always, that bothered him. “Doesn’t this faze you at all? People thought we were….”

Souji shrugged, his expression turning slightly sheepish. “I already had my suspicions about the misunderstanding, to be honest. I didn’t mind because it was you.”

Yosuke gaped, his face flooding with color. “B-because it was-- h-how can you say something like that with a straight face?!”

“Because it’s true?” Souji seemed genuinely confused by Yosuke’s reaction. “If people thought I was dating anyone, I’m glad it was you.” Upon remembering that they weren’t alone, he glanced over at Chie and added, “No offense.”

Chie waved a hand, both her and Souji paying no attention to Yosuke’s embarrassed sputtering. “None taken, though really Yosuke’s the one that should be saying that to you--I mean, you’re pretty much the most popular guy in all of Inaba. Yosuke’s just….” She glanced at Yosuke, giving him a once over before turning her attention back over to Souji. “... _Yosuke_.”

“What the _hell_ , Chie?” Yosuke glared at Chie indignantly, latching onto his annoyance towards her comment and using it to ignore the way his heart had swelled with pleased pride from Souji’s words. “I’m totally just as--” He paused, glancing over at Souji for a moment before reluctantly continuing, “-- _almost_ as good boyfriend material as Souji. The only thing stopping me from being more popular is Junes.”

“Sure, you keep telling yourself that,” Chie responded, waving a hand flippantly with a teasing smile. “But anyway, backing the conversation up a bit… does that mean you think Souji’s good boyfriend material?”

Souji eyed Yosuke in intrigue. “Do you?” Not giving the flustered Yosuke a chance to respond, he sheepishly added, “Honestly, I think you would make a better boyfriend than I would.”

“Seriously?” Yosuke asked, embarrassment quickly giving way to bewildered shock. “Dude, you’re like-- Inaba’s number one bachelor or something; practically every girl you meet ends up tripping over themselves to try and catch your eye. How could I possibly beat that?”

“I didn’t say you were more popular, I said you would make a better boyfriend,” Souji corrected. “The reason so many people like me is because I’m good at reading people and presenting what they want to see from me,” he admitted. “But you… you’re honest. If someone is special to you, you make sure they know it. You seem like the type of person that would go above and beyond to make sure the person you care about feels loved and appreciated.”

“Souji….”

Chie glanced back and forth between Souji’s sincere expression and Yosuke’s flustered yet touched look, slowly rising from her seat. “Oookay, well, would you look at the time, I, uh… forgot to walk Muku, so I’m gonna… go now….”

Neither Souji nor Yosuke even noticed Chie’s hasty retreat, too wrapped up in each other’s gazes to pay the rest of the universe any attention.

“Souji, you say that, but… I still think you’d make a way better boyfriend than I would,” Yosuke continued. “You’re not just ‘presenting what people want to see’; you’re a naturally compassionate, likeable person--and you’re just as capable of making sure the people you care about feel loved and appreciated. I mean, look at Nanako-chan, she adores you and she knows for sure that you adore her back.” He hesitated for a moment before quietly adding, “And… I mean, you do a pretty good job of making me feel special and appreciated and stuff, so… so don’t sell yourself short.”

Now it was Souji’s turn to look flustered, though there was a small, bashful smile on his face as he replied, “I’m glad to hear that, partner. Thank you.”

Yosuke ducked his head, trying and failing to hide his pleased grin. “Yeah, well, I’m glad you’re glad, so… good.”

“But it sounds to me like we’re at an impasse.”

“Huh?” Yosuke looked back up at Souji in confusion, surprised to find an almost mischievous expression on his partner’s face. “What do you mean?”

“Well, you think I would make a better boyfriend, and I think you would make a better boyfriend. So why don’t we find a way to settle this?”

“Uh, partner? Unless you forgot, we’re both single,” Yosuke pointed out wryly.

“We could just… not be single. You know, together.”

“Not be single… together,” Yosuke repeated lamely, eyeing Souji in disbelief. “Partner, do you know what you’re saying?”

“Of course I do.” With a hint of a teasing smile, he added, “And I know you do too. You always know what I’m saying better than anyone, don’t you?”

Yosuke blushed lightly. “Well, yeah, I guess, but… so what, you’re saying we should just… start dating since people think we’re dating already anyway? Isn’t that a bit-- I mean, we’re both guys, and--”

“And how different would it be from how we normally act?”

Yosuke’s blush darkened heavily. “Dude, it would be _way_ different, what are you talking about? I-I mean, when you’re dating someone, it’s like… you go out together just the two of you--”

“We already do that,” Souji cut him off with a hint of amusement.

“--I-I mean, uh, you go out on _dates_ , not just hanging out--”

Souji raised an eyebrow. “Remind me, how many times have we taken trips to Okina together to go to the movies, or to go shopping, or--?”

Yosuke slid down in his seat, his face gradually growing redder the more he tried to scramble for flaws in Souji’s plan. “-- _and_ … uh, a-and when people date they spend… _private time_ together--”

“You mean like all the times you’ve come over my place and I cooked you dinner?”

“--doing _physically affectionate_ things--”

Souji lifted a hand and ticked off his fingers one at a time as he listed, “You have a habit of swinging your arm around my shoulders, we lean in each other’s personal space all the time when we’re sitting together, I’ve taken a few naps with my head on your lap or your head on my chest--”

“Oh my god.” Yosuke slid completely off his seat and under the table, hiding his face in his hands. “Partner, how long have we been dating? Why didn’t you tell me?!”

Souji couldn’t help but laugh, even despite the betrayed look Yosuke shot him. “Honestly? I never thought about it myself until now, but it really does seem like we are, doesn’t it?”

He reached under the table to help pull Yosuke up, preemptively putting a hand on top of Yosuke’s head to prevent it from banging into the bottom of the table and smiling as Yosuke looked even more flustered from the gesture.

“So what do you think?” Souji asked once Yosuke was back in his seat. “I know I’m not a girl, but can you move past the heartbreak of me not having breasts and give me a chance?”

Yosuke couldn’t help but let out a snort of laughter at that. “That’s not exactly the problem, partner,” he replied wryly. “I’m not attracted to guys--but,” he cut Souji off before Souji could so much as open his mouth, “I think… well, I guess it might not hurt to… give it a try? Like, uh… like a trial run or something--but if it’s weird, we’ll cut things off and pretend it never happened, alright?”

Souji smiled and held out his hand for Yosuke to shake. “Deal.”

“Weirdo,” Yosuke muttered, surprising himself with how much fondness tinged his amused tone even as he rolled his eyes and took Souji’s hand to shake it. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you sound pretty happy about this.”

“Maybe I am. I’m getting to take the best boyfriend in Inaba for a trial run, after all.”

Yosuke lightly hit Souji’s arm in embarrassment, feeling even more flustered by Souji’s amused grin.

“You know what, I changed my mind, you’re a horrible boyfriend and I’m breaking up with you.”

Souji chuckled as he rose to his feet. “Would I be able to win you back with the offer of letting you come over and sneak some peeks at my homework? I might even let you copy some answers if you’re lucky.”

“Homework? Oh, how scandalous! What would Dojima-san think?” Yosuke rose to his feet, grinning and winking as he added, “You do drive a hard bargain though, partner. Throw in a home-cooked meal and I might be sold.”

Souji pretended to think it over before letting out a dramatic sigh. “Homework answers _and_ food? You’re really twisting my arm here, Yosuke.” He gave Yosuke a small but genuine smile as he added, “But for you? I’ll do it.”

Yosuke rolled his eyes, ignoring the heat that quickly gathered back in his cheeks from Souji’s sincere tone--not that Yosuke ever had any doubts before that Souji would do anything for him, but in the light of their new trial relationship, he couldn’t help but feel the slightest bit flustered (and pleased) by the reminder.

“Then c’mon, let’s start heading out before it gets late.”

Souji nodded, allowing his new boyfriend to take the lead as they made their way out of Junes and off towards the Dojima household.

(It was only once they reached the Dojima household that they realized, to their mutual embarrassment, that Chie had disappeared at some point. Souji sent her a text with a simple “Thank you” while Yosuke was distracted with talking about how rude it was that she just picked up and left without even saying anything, and was unable to stop himself from grinning as she sent back a thumbs up in response, no questions asked.

He really did have the best friends--and now, he had the best boyfriend too.)


	3. Day Three: Illness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly this was going to be even longer than it ended up being but if I didn't force myself to cut it short then I'd end up spending the next few days writing Yosuke nursing Souji back to health instead of working on the other prompts lmao
> 
> Technically I'm changing a canon event from later in the game for this but I kept the details to a minimum so I don't think there should be any spoilers

Yosuke wasn’t sure what had been a more difficult battle: convincing his parents to let him stay with Souji until he recovered from his cold (and convincing his dad to change his work schedule so he could take off for a few days), or convincing Teddie to go home instead of trying to stay and “nurse” Souji back to health when he hardly even understood how human colds worked.

Regardless of the uphill struggle, it was worth it when he finally closed and locked the front door after Teddie reluctantly left, leaving Yosuke alone with his ill best friend.

Carrying Souji up to his bedroom wasn’t easy, but it was better than leaving him under the kotatsu where Teddie had put him and letting him overheat--and getting him out of his clothes and into pajamas was probably one of the most embarrassing moments of his life, but thankfully he managed to get through it by reminding himself that Souji was unconscious and there was absolutely nothing weird about trying to help his sick partner get a bit more comfortable.

The only thing left to do after that was keep a careful vigil over Souji, and take care of the house in his stead while Dojima and Nanako were away.

He didn’t exactly consider himself the best at household chores--he wasn’t  _ bad _ , but he was nowhere near Souji’s level--but thankfully the house was already clean enough that all he had to do was stay on top of dusting everything, which even he could manage. Laundry was a bit more of a challenge, but one online search and a quick skim of the instructions on all the different bottles lined up by the washing machine later, Yosuke found himself smiling proudly as a load of laundry began running in the washing machine without a hitch.

The next hurdle was trying to figure out how the hell to cook something that Souji would be able to stomach.

His skills in the kitchen were (thankfully) a few steps above the girls’, but that unfortunately wasn’t saying much when he didn’t have his partner to walk him through the necessary steps to cook a decent meal, and he didn’t exactly feel confident enough to just search for a recipe online and blindly follow it.

He wasn’t about to bother his mother to cook food and bring it all the way here either, and it was too embarrassing to call her and ask for help after insisting that he’d be able to handle things here on his own hardly two hours ago.

Which left him with one more, just as embarrassing option--but for his partner, he was willing to bite the bullet and make the phone call.

“H-hey, uh… Kanji? You’re a pretty decent cook, right? Think you could walk me through making something?”

* * *

Thankfully Kanji was more than willing to help, especially upon finding out that Yosuke was trying to cook for a sick Souji, and by the time Souji began to stir from his fitful sleep, the soup that Kanji had guided him through making was just about finished.

Yosuke turned off the stove and made his way up to Souji’s bedroom to check on him, frowning and rushing over to Souji’s side when he saw him trying to force himself up.

“Partner, you need to rest,” Yosuke gently admonished him, carefully pushing Souji back down in his futon.

Souji made a distressed noise as he tried to sit up again. “Can’t, gotta… work to do, links to finish, not enough time--”

“Partner,  _ no _ .” Yosuke firmly kept his hands on Souji’s shoulders, his worry growing as he barely needed to use any strength to keep Souji down despite his struggles. “You’ve been pushing yourself too hard, and I’m sorry that I didn’t notice before things got to this point--but I’m here now, and I’m not going to let you get up until you’re feeling better.” He paused for a moment before adding in embarrassment, “Or to, y’know. Go to the bathroom and bathe and stuff. But that’s it, got it?”

Oh god, he was going to have to help Souji with that stuff too, wasn’t he? It was probably better to not think about it for now, or he’d end up with a higher fever than Souji’s with how quickly his face was starting to get flushed.

Souji didn’t look pleased, but apparently he lacked the strength to keep fighting Yosuke on the matter as he stopped putting up a struggle and instead let out a resigned, almost petulant sigh.

“Good, much better.” Yosuke let go of Souji’s shoulders once he was sure his partner wasn’t going to try sitting up again. “I’m going to go grab a bowl from the kitchen and bring up some soup for you to eat. You’d better not have moved by the time I get back, got it?”

Souji gave a quiet, miserable groan in response, prompting a sympathetic grimace from Yosuke as he rose to his feet.

“Don’t worry, partner. I’m gonna do my best to get you feeling better soon.”

Souji gave no response, his eyes already closed once more, and Yosuke could only assume that he’d dozed back off. Thankfully that gave Yosuke a bit of time to pour some soup into a bowl for Souji, put the rest in a container in the refrigerator, and clean up the kitchen a bit before returning upstairs to Souji’s room, the bowl of soup and a spoon in hand.

Waking Souji back up was easy with how light his sleep was, but helping him sit up so he could eat was a whole other matter--Yosuke ended up having to grab some extra pillows to help prop Souji up against the wall so he could comfortably sit up enough to swallow the soup without choking on it.

Getting the food from the bowl to Souji’s mouth was another challenge, with how weak Souji was, and Yosuke quickly gave up any ideas of getting through these next few days without embarrassing himself as soon as Souji accidentally spilled the first spoonful of soup all over his shirt.

“Alright, new plan,” Yosuke announced as he helped Souji change into a new pajama shirt, setting aside the dirty one and inwardly lamenting his earlier haste to throw the clothes that had been sitting in the hamper into the washing machine. “I’m going to hold the spoon for you, and you’re going to eat the soup and never mention anything about me feeding you to anyone ever.”

Souji let out what Yosuke at first assumed was an exhausted huff of air, but the slight glint of amusement in his hazy eyes made it quickly apparent that it had been a quiet, breathless laugh at Yosuke’s expense.

Jerk. He’d find a way to get Souji back for this someday.

For now, though, he poured his focus into helping Souji get some food in his stomach, ignoring his embarrassment and trying his best to keep his hand from shaking as he held a spoonful of soup up to Souji's lips. Perhaps it was just because Souji was too tired to properly tease Yosuke, but he opened his mouth and let Yosuke feed him without a fuss, which helped ease Yosuke's nerves until he was going through the motions with hardly a twitch in his hands. Only when Souji shook his head, his eyelids drooping, did Yosuke realize that Souji had finished half of the bowl, and he nodded in satisfaction and lowered the spoon back into the bowl before setting it aside so he could help Souji lie back down.

“Alright partner, get some rest.” Yosuke rose to his feet once Souji was tucked back into his futon, taking the bowl and the dirtied shirt with him. “I’m going to go bring this stuff downstairs, and then I’ll be right back.”

Souji nodded and closed his eyes, quickly drifting back off to sleep as Yosuke quietly exited the room, leaving the door open so he could hear Souji in case he called for him.

He tossed the dirty shirt in the hamper and moved the clothes from the washing machine to the dryer before heading into the kitchen, and by the time he washed, dried, and put away the bowl, his stomach finally reminded him that Souji wasn't the only one that needed to eat. With a sigh, he crouched down by the refrigerator and looked around, spotting a few containers in the back behind the container of soup that he'd made.

For a moment he was relieved, thinking he could at least have leftovers from Souji's cooking--before remembering upon opening one of the containers that while Souji was an incredible cook, he also had a very bad habit of forgetting that expiration dates existed and was apparently convinced that his stomach was invincible to food poisoning.

With a grimace and a long sigh, Yosuke went and grabbed a garbage bag, rolled up his sleeves, and set to cleaning out the refrigerator until only the container of soup and a few random ingredients that hadn't spoiled yet remained.

So much for having a filling meal.

Though reluctant--the soup was supposed to be for Souji, not him--Yosuke warmed up a bowl for himself, resolving to give Teddie a call tomorrow and have him take a run to Junes to stock the Dojima household with fresh food. Ted would probably be ecstatic to have something to do to help his precious Sensei, anyway, so it would be a win-win--provided he didn't decide that “fresh food” included twenty boxes of topsicles or something.

… Maybe he would see if Kanji was free to go with Teddie, or even Naoto. Someone who had at least a general idea of what kinds of food to stock a house with.

After quickly inhaling the soup (which came out a bit bland, though that was more because he had hardly any ingredients to work with when making the soup rather than because he'd done anything wrong) and cleaning up after himself, Yosuke went back upstairs to Souji's room, taking advantage of him still being asleep to get changed into pajamas before digging around for the spare futon and dragging it out. He didn't anticipate getting much sleep while trying to look after Souji, but he also knew that exhausting himself by forcing himself to stay up would make it even harder to help his partner in the long run--he would just keep his futon close to Souji's, to make it easier to wake Yosuke up in case he needed anything.

Upon seeing that Souji was still asleep even after he'd finished setting up the futon, Yosuke decided to turn off the lights and lie down, turning the brightness down on his phone so as not to disturb Souji's sleep and updating their friends on Souji's condition before mindlessly playing around with some games until he felt his eyelids beginning to droop.

Muffling a yawn behind his hand, Yosuke glanced over at Souji again, setting his phone aside so he could reach out and readjust the blankets that had shifted around his partner before smiling slightly and laying down.

“Night, partner,” he murmured, drifting off to the sound of Souji's even breathing.

* * *

Yosuke was pulled from his sleep by the feeling of movement next to him, and he blearily opened his eyes, momentarily confused before realizing that the movement had been Souji tossing and turning in his sleep.

He quickly sat up, now much more awake, and moved to shake Souji out of his fitful sleep, only to flinch as Souji’s eyes immediately shot open as soon as Yosuke put a hand on his shoulder.

“You okay, partner?” Yosuke searched Souji’s face worriedly, noting his unfocused gaze and the slight trembling of his body, and he reached out to press the back of his hand to Souji’s forehead before grimacing. “Shit, you’re burning up….”

He kicked off his blankets so he could sit up before moving to pull the blankets off of Souji as well, leaving him with just a thin sheet to cover him--which was a start, but it wasn’t nearly enough to help lower Souji’s fever.

“C’mon, there’s gotta be something else I can do….” Yosuke ran a hand through his hair, muttering to himself as he wracked his brain for what his mother used to do for him when he had a bad fever. “Maybe I can find something to help cool him down…? Damn, maybe I should make Ted get some topsicles after all--not that that'd help right now, though….”

As Yosuke moved to rise to his feet, a hand suddenly grabbed his arm, making him fall back down onto the futon with a startled yelp.

“Partner, what--”

Yosuke’s annoyed question immediately died on his tongue as he looked over at Souji, his heart plummeting as he saw the distressed look on his partner’s face.

“Please don’t leave….”

Yosuke felt panic beginning to bubble up inside him--he’d only ever heard Souji sound so broken once, only ever saw him cry once, and that alone was more than his heart could handle.

_ It’s just the fever talking, _ Yosuke reminded himself, pushing away the memory and focusing on the present--he might not have been able to do much to help then, but this was completely different.

“You have a fever, partner. I need to go try and find something to--”

Yosuke nearly bit his tongue in his haste to stop talking as he saw the first tear escape Souji’s eyes, followed by another, and another, and--

_ Fuckfuckfuckfuck come on you idiot don’t just stare at him do something say  _ **_something_ ** _ \-- _

“H-hey, calm down partner, it’s okay! I’m not leaving, I swear!” Yosuke nervously rambled in an attempt to try and calm Souji down as he put his hands on Souji’s shoulders, trying to ease him back down onto his pillow. “I was just going to go downstairs for a second, that’s all--which, okay, I guess that counts as leaving since that’s leaving the room, but I mean I’m not  _ leaving _ -leaving so--”

He winced as Souji began to look even more panicked, like his mind was only registering the word  _ leaving _ and nothing else.

“Aaaand I’m just making it worse, aren’t I.” Yosuke ran a hand through his hair in frustration before an idea hit him. “Alright, screw it, plan B.”

Yosuke lifted the sheet off of Souji so he could hastily get in his futon with him, their bodies pressed flush against each other as Yosuke moved an arm around Souji to hold him close.

Immediately the tension in Souji’s body began to drain away, and Yosuke, emboldened by the realization that he was on the right track, moved his hand up to run through Souji’s hair, hardly even paying any mind to how matted with sweat it was.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Yosuke said quietly, giving Souji a smile when he looked at him in surprise. “We’re partners, remember? You know I’d never leave you.”

The relief that flooded Souji’s expression caused Yosuke to let out a soft, relieved sigh of his own, and he carefully dried Souji’s face with the corner of his sleeve before gently guiding Souji’s head to rest against him.

It was only when Souji shifted to bury his face in the crook of Yosuke’s neck that he realized the position he just put himself in.

Apparently even despite all the blood rushing up his neck all the way to the tips of his ears, his skin was still cool to the touch for Souji, since he pressed his cheek against Yosuke’s neck with a content sigh.

Yosuke just barely repressed a shiver from the feeling of Souji’s breath against his skin, but even despite his embarrassment, he couldn’t bring himself to so much as twitch away from his partner, not after he’d finally calmed down.

All he could hope was that Souji would remember this once he woke up in the morning, or Yosuke was going to have one hell of a time trying to explain why he was in Souji’s futon and why they were practically cuddled up together.

Yosuke let out a long sigh as he heard Souji’s breathing beginning to even out as he fell back asleep, a fond smile tugging at the corners of his lips despite his embarrassment.

_ The things I do for Souji, I swear, _ he thought wryly, as he closed his eyes to fall back asleep as well, knowing fully well that his partner would do the same for him in a heartbeat.


	4. Day Four: Hanging out with Nanako

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Give Souji Nanako, Yosuke, and cats and he's a happy man
> 
> This chapter just kind of wrote itself, in that I only had the basic idea of SouYo + Nanako + cats and I just let it run its course, and this is what I ended up with lol

If there was one constant about Souji, it was that he was punctual with everything in his life: he would plan his days practically down to the minute, would finish every task he had to do in whatever allotted time he had to do it, and was never once late for anything in the entire time Yosuke had known him, right down to responding to text messages almost immediately after receiving them.

Yosuke had no idea how Souji managed it, but that wasn’t the point. The point was, Souji hadn’t texted him back in over an hour, and he knew that Souji wasn’t working any of his fifty different jobs (according to Souji, he’d scheduled tonight as a study night--and seriously, who  _ scheduled _ when they  _ studied _ ?), so he  _ should _ have texted Yosuke back by the time Yosuke went to the break room to check his phone.

Except he  _ hadn’t _ , and Yosuke was trying not to let his imagination get the best of him as to why.

The last time Souji hadn’t responded to any calls or texts was when he’d gone into a frenzy searching for Nanako after she ran out of the house, and the memory alone spurred Yosuke into tossing off his Junes apron and clocking out--it was close enough to the end of his shift, and he stayed late so often that his dad couldn’t possibly get mad at him for one night of leaving a few minutes early.

He sent Souji another text just to make sure everything was alright, not wanting to rush all the way to there only to find that he’d been worried over nothing, but he could hardly bring himself to wait two minutes to see if Souji would text him back before he gave up, hopped on his bike, and began pedaling towards the Dojima household.

* * *

As it turned out, he really had been worried over nothing--and if the sight that met his eyes hadn’t been so heartwarming, he might have chewed Souji out for making him think that something bad had happened.

Yosuke slowed his bike to a stop and hopped off, his eyebrow raised as he stared at Souji and Nanako sitting outside their house together with matching smiles as they were surrounded by what had to be at least half of Inaba’s stray cat population.

Although rather than “surrounded by,” Yosuke supposed that it would have been more accurate to say that Souji was literally covered in cats.

A quick count showed eight in total: two on Souji’s shoulders, one on his head, one sitting on his lap, two trying to climb onto Souji’s legs, one in his arms, and one sitting on Nanako’s lap.

Despite his lingering annoyance, Yosuke couldn’t help but pull out his phone to snap a quick picture with an amused smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

“Yosuke-nii!”

Nanako was the first one to notice Yosuke once he pocketed his phone and approached them, being careful not to accidentally scare the cats--not that he needed to worry, since apparently the cats judged that he wasn’t worth their time with just a quick glance. They apparently preferred to stay focused on Souji, who was giving them all equal attention in turn, and only when Souji heard Nanako’s exclamation did he pull his attention away from the cats to look up at him.

“Yosuke,” Souji greeted with a bright, surprised smile.

Yosuke stumbled to a halt at the sight, his face flushing. Seeing Souji smile was a rare sight in and of itself, but seeing him smile like  _ that _ was….

He quickly shoved all thoughts aside and forcibly shook himself out of his stupor as he moved the rest of the way over to Souji and Nanako, forcing an unamused expression as he looked down at Souji.

“Didn’t you get my texts?”

“Texts?” Souji freed one of his hands so he could reach down to his pocket, his confusion quickly shifting to sheepish realization. “I’m sorry, I must have forgotten my phone inside when I came out here.”

Yosuke frowned. “Seriously? You never forget your phone--and wait, I texted you like an hour ago! Are you telling me you’ve been out here for that long?!”

“Oh, has it really been that long?” Souji looked genuinely surprised by the news, though not particularly bothered. “Time flies when you’re having fun.”

Yosuke shook his head slightly in bemusement. “You’re so weird sometimes, partner, I swear…. What happened to spending the night studying?”

Souji looked conflicted for a moment before replying, “Cats take priority.”

“Of course they do,” Yosuke replied with wry amusement. “So what, you saw some cats outside and decided to just drown yourself in them for an hour?”

“Nanako heard a noise outside, and I came out here to see what it was,” Souji explained.

“Yeah, I thought it might be something scary, but it was just a bunch of kitties!” Nanako added with a smile. “They’re all so friendly! Do you wanna pet one too, Yosuke-nii?”

Yosuke sighed--it was official, he couldn’t even manage to pretend to be annoyed anymore, not between Nanako’s hopeful smile and the memory of how happy Souji had looked sitting outside with his cousin and the cats.

“I don’t think they’ll like me very much,” Yosuke began as he sat down on Nanako’s other side, “but if I’m not getting in the way, then I guess I can at least hang around for a bit while you guys pet them.”

Souji and Nanako both seemed happy that he was going to stay with them a bit longer, and Yosuke couldn’t help but return their smiles with one of his own, both amused by how easy it was to please them and flattered that they found it so easy to include him in what had obviously been a bonding moment between them.

“Why do you think they won’t like you, Yosuke-nii?” Nanako asked, looking up at him once he’d made himself as comfortable as possible on the cold, concrete floor.

“Huh? Oh, uh… well, I dunno. I’ve never had a pet, and every time I saw a stray cat they always ran away from me.” Yosuke shrugged sheepishly, before glancing at Souji and adding sarcastically, “Plus, I’m not part cat like your Big Bro.”

Nanako quickly turned her attention over to Souji at that, her eyes shining in awe. “Big Bro, you’re part cat?”

“Actually,” Souji began, being careful not to accidentally knock any of the cats off of him as he leaned forward slightly, keeping a straight face as he whispered dramatically, “I’m a werecat.”

Nanako leaned forward in return, clearly excited. “Really?!”

“Yep. I can understand cats, and I turn into a cat every time there’s a full moon.”

Yosuke snorted in laughter. “Dude c’mon, don’t put weird thoughts in Nanako’s head.”

Souji raised an eyebrow as he straightened back up, looking Yosuke straight in the eye as he said, “How do you know that for sure? You’ve never seen me when there’s a full moon out.”

“Well….” Yosuke blinked, and for a moment he began to second-guess himself before realization hit him. “Wait, you jerk! I’ve talked to you on the phone plenty of nights when there was a full moon!”

Souji’s eyes twinkled with amusement even as his expression remained impassive. “Darn, I almost convinced you.”

Nanako giggled as she looked between the two of them. “You guys are silly,” she said, leaning against Yosuke slightly as she added, “This is fun. It was lots of fun with just Big Bro, but now it’s even more fun with Yosuke-nii here too!”

Much to Yosuke’s embarrassment, Souji’s expression softened into a smile as he nodded in agreement. “Yosuke always makes things more fun, doesn’t he?”

“Yeah! Yosuke-nii’s the best!”

“Definitely the best.”

Yosuke could feel his face burning, yet he couldn’t help the way his heart swelled from their genuine praise. “I dunno, I’d say you guys are the best,” he retorted, reaching out to ruffle Nanako’s hair and shooting his partner a wink as he added, “And I think all those cats agree, so that means you’re outnumbered.”

Souji chuckled, giving one of said cats a scratch behind the ears as they continued to try and pull his attention away from Yosuke and back to them. “I didn’t realize you spoke cat.”

Yosuke rolled his eyes. “I don’t, I just have working eyes,” he replied wryly. “Not hard to tell that every cat in Inaba loves you, and I’m pretty sure there’s not a single creature alive that wouldn’t love Nanako-chan.”

“Really?” Nanako asked with a smile. “Even you, Yosuke-nii?”

“Of course!” Yosuke grinned. “How could I not love you, Nanako-chan?”

“I love you too, Yosuke-nii!” Nanako’s smile brightened into a grin as she turned to hug Yosuke’s side.

Souji let out an exaggerated sigh as he watched Yosuke turn to hug her back. “That’s okay, I’ll just be sitting here, letting the cats give me their love while the two most important people in my life forget all about me.”

Yosuke rolled his eyes, ignoring the light flush in his cheeks--the two most important people in his life, huh? He’d be lying if he said the thought didn’t make his heart swell with pride and giddiness, hearing his partner outright saying just how much he valued Yosuke, but he wasn’t about to admit that aloud.

“Oh no, we’re not forgetting about you Big Bro!”

Before Yosuke could stop her, she tugged him along with her, moving closer to Souji until she was sandwiched between the two of them with a grin that Souji and Yosuke both couldn’t help but return, even as the movement annoyed some of the cats.

“I think it’s safe to say this is the best night I’ve ever had,” Souji commented with a smile as Nanako linked her arm with his, her other arm hugging Yosuke’s.

“Yeah?” Yosuke turned his gaze away from the cat that had crawled from Nanako’s lap onto his, idly petting it and smiling as it purred under his touch. He could see why Souji enjoyed surrounding himself by cats if they all acted like this with him, even if the amount of cats climbing all over him was a bit ridiculous.

“Mmhm. I’ve got my cousin, my partner, and cats. The perfect night.”

Yosuke blushed heavily, taking in the sight of Souji’s soft, almost affectionate smile as their eyes met before quickly glancing away. “Weirdo,” he muttered, surprising even himself with the fondness in his tone. “But I guess… yeah, this is a pretty good way to spend the night.”

“It’s the best!” Nanako agreed, hugging both of their arms and prompting soft chuckles from the two partners. “Can we do this again?” she asked, looking up at them hopefully.

Yosuke shrugged. “I’m always up for spending more time together,” he agreed, glancing at Souji with a teasing smile as he added, “Think you’d be able to pencil us in, partner?”

Souji pretended to think it over for a moment. “Well….”

“Pleeeeease, Big Bro?”

“Yeah partner, pleeeeease?”

Even Souji’s poker face couldn’t stand up to the power of two sets of puppy eyes, even if Souji knew Yosuke’s was more teasing than sincere. It’s not like Souji could say no to either of them anyway.

“I can’t guarantee that the cats will be here next time, but I agree that it would be nice to spend more time together like this.”

Nanako perked up with a bright smile. “Thanks Big Bro! I love you!”

Inwardly, Souji melted from the sight, but outwardly he managed to retain at least some of his composure as he replied, “Love you too, Nanako.”

Yosuke watched the two cousins with a soft expression, before blushing lightly as Souji looked over at him with an amused, almost expectant stare.

“I’m not saying it.”

Souji let out a long, dramatic sigh. “I can’t believe my own partner can tell my cousin he loves her, but when I ask I get the cold shoulder. I don’t think my heart will ever recover.”

“You weirdo.”

Yosuke could feel Souji still staring at him, and he squirmed under his gaze, his face growing more and more red. He barely even noticed that the cat hopped off of his lap, annoyed by all his fidgeting, and wandered back over to Souji to nuzzle against the much calmer boy.

Just as Souji was about to tell Yosuke that he was just joking, noting that his partner was starting to look genuinely distressed, Yosuke ducked his head and muttered something that just barely reached Souji’s ears.

“ _ Loveyou _ .”

Yosuke chanced a glance up at Souji, his embarrassment not at all helped by the bright, affectionate grin on Souji’s face.

“Love you too, partner,” Souji replied, watching with a mixture of amusement and concern as Yosuke choked and looked dangerously close to passing out from all the blood pooling in his face.

“You’re--” Yosuke paused as his voice cracked, before trying again, a flustered smile tugging at the corners of his lips. “You’re so weird, partner.”

Souji smiled teasingly. “You love my weirdness.”

“Jerk.” Yosuke reached out to give Souji’s shoulder a light shove, but Souji was pleased to note that he didn’t deny it despite his obvious embarrassment.

Souji was about to continue teasing Yosuke when the sound of a quiet yawn pulled his attention down to Nanako, who was dozing off between the two of them.

Yosuke followed Souji’s gaze. “Oh yeah, it’s pretty late, huh… you should probably start getting ready for bed, Nanako-chan.”

“Mmh… I don’t wanna….” Nanako hugged both of their arms petulantly, even as her eyelids kept drooping. “Wanna stay with Big Bro ‘n’ Yosuke-nii….”

“We’ll play another day, Nanako-chan,” Yosuke assured her. “Promise.”

Nanako yawned and leaned more heavily against him. “Mmkay.”

Souji gently extracted his arm from Nanako’s as she dozed off against Yosuke, meeting Yosuke’s eyes and gesturing for Yosuke to pick her up.

Yosuke was about to ask why when Souji raised an eyebrow and pointedly looked down at himself, and Yosuke bit his lip to stifle a laugh even as he carefully gathered Nanako in his arms and carried her inside, while Souji did his best to extract himself from all the cats that had decided Souji was their new home for the night.

By the time Souji managed to make it back inside and upstairs, Yosuke had already helped Nanako get changed and was tucking her into bed, nervous hesitance clear from his posture even as he kept a smile on his face.

Yosuke nearly jumped out of his skin when he turned to leave the room only to find Souji standing in the doorway watching him, and he bit his tongue to keep from letting out a startled yelp.

“Dude, don’t scare me like that,” he quietly hissed as he left the room, carefully closing the door behind him. “You nearly gave me a heart attack.”

“Sorry,” Souji replied with no traces of guilt whatsoever, “it was just cute watching you put Nanako to bed.”

Yosuke huffed and bumped his shoulder against Souji’s. “Well she was already practically asleep, and I wasn’t sure how long you would be….” He trailed off, his expression turning slightly worried as he added, “Sorry, should I have waited?”

“It’s fine, Yosuke, don’t worry.” Souji smiled slightly. “Thank you.”

Yosuke shrugged, though he couldn’t keep the relief from his tone as he replied, “No problem. Just glad I wasn’t taking over your ‘Big Bro’ duties or anything.”

“You know that if I had to share that spot with anyone, I’d be happy to share it with you, partner.”

“You’re in a real sappy mood tonight, huh?” Yosuke teased weakly, ignoring the pleased fluttering in his chest as he began to head for the stairs. “Anyway, I should really get going. I kinda left work in a rush, and my parents are gonna start worrying if I don’t get home soon.”

“Sorry again about that,” Souji replied sheepishly, following Yosuke downstairs and over to the front door. “If your parents get mad, you can tell them it was my fault.”

Yosuke waved his apology off. “It’s fine, don’t worry about it.” He avoided Souji’s gaze, putting on his shoes to distract himself as he added quietly, “I mean, I got to spend some time with you and Nanako-chan, so… it was worth it.”

“I’m glad. I enjoyed getting to spend time with you and Nanako too.”

Yosuke couldn’t help but smile in response. He had no idea how his partner could be so honest about his feelings without getting embarrassed or flustered, but it was always nice to hear the reminder that Souji lov-- _ liked _ him. Liked  _ spending time with _ him. And Nanako-chan. Not just him.

Deciding it was time for a hasty retreat before he got too flustered and started running his mouth, Yosuke shot Souji a grin and waved to him over his shoulder as he headed out the door. “Night, partner!”

“Goodnight, Yosuke. Love you.”

Yosuke tripped over his feet and nearly fell straight on his face in his haste to whirl around, embarrassment and annoyance warring in his expression as he saw the slight, teasing glint in Souji’s eyes as he smiled at him.

“Jerk.”

Ignoring the pounding in his chest and the burning heat in his cheeks, Yosuke went and grabbed his bike, hopping onto it and pedaling away without looking back, only opening his mouth once he was a safe distance away.

“Love you too.”


	5. Day Five: Fantasy (Aladdin!AU)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo, uh, I'm a little late with this one but technically speaking it's still Thursday somewhere in the world right now so it still counts I hope??
> 
> The reason I'm late with this one is because it's, um. About 13k long? Haha;;; Someone please remind me to never try and write a full AU idea in one day ever again lmao
> 
> So basically my thought process for this idea started from playing the Revue Starlight game where there's an Aladdin-themed event with two girls playing Aladdin and the Genie, and my brain went "wow that picture of them looks gay" -> "Aladdin counts as fantasy right" -> "Souyo is gay" -> "Fantasy is a Souyo week prompt" -> "Aladdin AU" lol, and I even managed to squeeze in the Shadows prompt too so yay for bonus points
> 
> Enjoy! ^^

Yosuke wasn’t the type of person to live with regrets: he stayed true to every choice in life and made the best of whatever situation he was in, even after running away from a modest life chained to his father’s growing marketplace and living on the streets a few towns away, trading financial comfort for freedom and a chance at happiness.

This, though? He was _kinda_ regretting this.

At the time, it had seemed like a good idea--but then again, anything seemed like a good idea when you were stuck in a dungeon cell underneath a palace, after running off with a girl that was apparently a runaway princess in disguise. Yet after he’d followed the admittedly shady-looking man through a secret passage leading out of the palace dungeons, letting him lead the way to a hidden cavern miles away from town that supposedly held some sort of extremely valuable lamp, Yosuke couldn’t help but get the feeling that he might have been better off just staying in the dungeon and hoping that the princess would show up and let the guards know that the whole mess had just been a huge misunderstanding.

At that point, though, he was already well on his way to descending into the creepy cavern with the promise to not touch anything but the lamp, so it was a bit too late to turn back.

And now here he was, lamp in hand, and completely trapped all because he’d picked up a necklace to admire the jewels without thinking.

He wasn’t even going to take it! He put the stupid thing back!

Yosuke kicked one of the piles of gold coins in annoyance before turning his glare down at the lamp in his hand.

“It’s all your fault, you stupid piece of garbage,” Yosuke grumbled. “What the hell’s so special about some dingy old lamp, anyway?”

He wiped some of the dust off of it, trying to figure out what value the old, dulled metal could possibly hold--it was light, so it wasn’t like there could be anything inside, not that Yosuke could even check when the top of the lamp was sealed shut. If Yosuke squinted, he could make out some sort of designs on the side of the lamp in the cavern’s dim lighting, and he rubbed the dust off with a bit more force, determined to at least figure out the importance of the thing that had most likely sealed his fate of dying a slow death all alone in the middle of nowhere.

There was a sudden flash of light, and Yosuke yelped, reflexively dropping the lamp and paling when he realized that the light was somehow emanating from the dulled metal and not from anywhere in the room.

Something began to take form in front of Yosuke, who took a few steps backwards warily and glanced around in a panic for something to defend himself with--the gold coins and jewels might hurt if he threw enough of them, but he highly doubted they would do enough damage to keep him safe.

And then the light cleared, and in front of Yosuke stood--of all things--a guy that looked to be his own age, with pale skin and gray hair and eyes that seemed to glow silver in the cavern’s lighting, dressed a silk white shirt and dark blue, flowing pants that looked as if they were made of jewels from how they shimmered with each step that the guy took.

Yosuke was so stunned that he hadn’t even processed that the guy was walking towards him until said guy was waving a hand in front of his face to try and bring his mind back down to Earth, his gaze both amused and slightly concerned.

“I take it you took that lamp without knowing what exactly it was?” he asked, his lips quirking upward into the slightest hint of a smirk as Yosuke jumped and backpedaled away from him.

“What-- who are you, and how did you get in here?”

The guy casually gestured to the lamp on the floor. “I was in there, and you summoned me.” At Yosuke’s bewildered look, he added, “I don’t suppose you’ve heard of a genie before?”

“... A _genie_ ,” Yosuke repeated incredulously. “You mean, like… magical powers, three wishes, _that_ kind of genie?”

“Unless there was another kind of genie that I was unaware of,” the so-called genie replied wryly. “Yes, that kind of genie.”

Yosuke huffed, flushing lightly in indignation. “Well _excuse_ me for being a bit skeptical. As far as I know, genies don’t exist.” He paused, the gears in his head slowly beginning to turn as he let a flippant, annoyed tone tinge his words and continued to speak. “Actually, I’m still not fully convinced that you’re not just some sort of weird hallucination.”

“Do you typically have conversations with your hallucinations?”

“I don’t ‘typically’ hallucinate, _period_.” Yosuke crossed his arms. “If you’re really a genie, then prove it.”

The genie raised an eyebrow. “You’re the one that summoned me, and _I_ have to prove myself? You sure are an interesting one.”

“ _Yes_ you have to prove yourself--unless you can’t,” Yosuke challenged. “I bet you don’t even really have magic. You probably just snuck in here while I was distracted or something.” With a dismissive wave of his hand, he turned away from the so-called genie and said, “If you had something as crazy as _magic_ , you could probably get us both out of this place with a snap of your fingers or something--but there's no way you could possibly do something like that, so I’m gonna just stop wasting my time humoring you and start looking for an exit.”

The genie’s expression remained neutral, though when Yosuke briefly glanced back at him, he could tell that he’d managed to bristle the guy a bit by the slight pursing of his lips and the tenseness of his body.

“As a matter of fact, I _can_ do something like that,” the genie replied, picking up his lamp and pressing it into Yosuke’s hands before lifting his fingers and making a show of audibly snapping them--and in the blink of an eye, their surroundings blurred and shifted until the mounds of gold and dark cavern walls were replaced by the outdoors and the starry night sky.

Yosuke gaped, and the genie allowed a small, satisfied smirk as he observed him.

“Well?” he asked. “Do you believe me now?”

“I-- y-yeah, there’s no way I could _not_ believe you now.” Yosuke couldn’t help but smile at the genie as he added, “Thanks, I was seriously starting to think I’d end up dying in that place.”

The genie’s expression faltered, caught off-guard by the expression of genuine gratitude. “Of course, it was no trouble at all,” he replied awkwardly, before quickly pressing on. “In any case, you have two wishes left--”

“Huh? No, I have three.”

The genie’s brows furrowed, and it took all of Yosuke’s self-restraint to keep a smile off of his face as he absentmindedly toyed with the lamp in his hands.

“I got you out of that cavern--”

“--but I never _wished_ for that, did I?” Yosuke cut the bewildered genie off, watching him mentally replay every word that they’d exchanged--and when realization flashed across the genie’s face, Yosuke lost the valiant battle to keep his lips from twitching upward into a smug grin.

“You….” The genie stared at him for a moment before lifting a hand to his face, his shoulders shaking in quiet laughter. “I can’t believe this. I must have been in the lamp for longer than I thought, if I fell for such a simple trick.”

Yosuke chuckled, inwardly relieved that the genie was taking the deception in stride--he hadn’t thought about it in the moment, too wrapped up in the thought of potentially being able to get out of the cavern while still being able to make three wishes, but in hindsight it wasn’t exactly his brightest idea to risk pissing off some all-powerful magical being.

Thankfully, for once in his life, luck seemed to be on his side.

“So,” the genie began once his laughter died down, “as for your _three_ wishes, then. You can wish for almost anything, so long as you adhere to three rules: no wishing for more wishes, no wishing to revive the dead, and no wishing to make someone fall in love with you.”

“Alright, well, those three rules should be easy enough to follow, though….” Yosuke rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “Honestly, I wasn’t expecting to ever get _any_ wishes, so now that I’m on the spot, I can’t really think of anything….”

“Nothing at all? Wealth, power, status… just say the word and it’s yours.”

Yosuke frowned in thought before realization hit him, his expression brightening. “The princess!” Upon seeing the genie’s expression, he hastily continued. “No, I mean, not making her fall in love with me--but if you could like, make me a prince or something, just so I could get the chance to properly talk with her and maybe… maybe make her fall in love with me myself… ugh, then again, I don’t think all the magic in the world would be able to make something like _that_ happen.”

“Well, you won’t know until you try, right?” the genie encouraged, before adding with a hint of wry amusement, “But if you want it, then this time you have to make the wish official.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. I won’t try and pull any more fast ones, I promise,” Yosuke replied, before taking a seat on the ground with an exhausted sigh and setting the lamp down next to him. “Can I like… have a night to think about it? Or do I have to decide right away?”

“You can take all the time you need,” the genie assured him, hesitating for a moment before lowering himself to the ground as well. “As long as you have the lamp, I’ll be around to grant your wishes, whether you decide to use them tomorrow or ten years from now.”

“Seriously?” Yosuke’s brows furrowed. “That’s… that kinda seems unfair to you, doesn’t it? Have people really taken that long before?”

The genie shrugged, keeping a neutral expression on his face even as he felt something inside him twist--never had a person called his situation _unfair_ . He was an all-powerful genie that only existed to grant other people’s wishes; whether it was _fair_ to him or not was never of any consequence to anyone.

“Some people are very indecisive,” the genie replied.

“Well, I don’t think I’m going to take _that_ long to come up with something,” Yosuke replied with a wry smile, before letting out a long sigh as he felt his stomach growling. “Ugh, I’m starving… I don’t even think I’m going to survive until _tomorrow_ at this rate, let alone ten years. I wish I at least had something to eat-- _waitfuck_ \--”

Yosuke slapped a hand over his mouth and groaned, only to reluctantly glance over at the genie as he heard his quiet chuckling.

“I’ll just pretend I didn’t hear that,” the genie said, much to Yosuke’s relief.

“Thanks,” Yosuke replied sheepishly. When his stomach let out another loud growl, he groaned again and leaned backwards until he was laying down on the ground, his arms wrapped around his stomach in a poor attempt to get it to quiet down.

He didn’t even notice the genie move until the smell of something absolutely _mouthwatering_ hit his nose, and he sat up to find the genie holding out a plate of curry and a spoon.

“I thought you said you were gonna pretend you didn’t hear that?” Yosuke asked warily, just barely restraining himself from snatching the plate and inhaling the food--he wasn’t dumb enough to waste an all-powerful magical wish on one single meal, despite his accidental slip-up.

“I’m not counting this as a wish, I promise,” the genie replied. “Just consider this a thank you.”

As soon as the reassurance left the genie’s mouth, Yosuke took the plate and spoon from him, practically inhaling the food and only stopping to take a drink from the glass of cold, refreshing water that the genie handed him before finally letting out a content, relieved sigh once his stomach was filled.

“Thanks,” Yosuke said, a smile briefly flitting across his face before the genie’s previous words belatedly caught up to him. “And speaking of thanks… what did you mean, about considering the food a thank you? I didn’t do anything worth thanking, at least not that I can remember.”

“It’s been a long time since I’ve simply talked with someone like this,” the genie confessed. “I’ve gotten so used to just being summoned, granting three wishes, and being forced right back into the lamp that it’s a welcome change to be able to sit and have a conversation with someone. It might not seem like much, but I really do appreciate it.”

“Oh….” Yosuke’s brows furrowed, his gaze dropping as he mulled over the genie’s words combined with his expression. “That seems kinda… lonely.”

The genie was silent for a moment before deciding to change the subject. “So, we’ve been speaking this whole time, but I don’t believe you ever told me your name?”

“Ah, sorry! I guess I got so distracted that it slipped my mind,” Yosuke replied sheepishly, before holding his hand out to the genie. “I’m Yosuke Hanamura.”

The genie took Yosuke’s hand and shook it, inwardly both amused and pleased by how normally Yosuke was treating him. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Master Hanamura.”

Yosuke’s nose immediately scrunched up in response to the title. “Just Yosuke, please. ‘Master Hanamura’ sounds weird.”

“If you’re sure… then it’s a pleasure to meet you, Yosuke,” the genie replied with a soft smile.

Yosuke couldn’t help but stare for a moment, completely entranced by the almost ethereal sight--the genie was definitely a magical creature, because there was no way any normal human could look so mesmerizing, guy or not.

“Yosuke?”

Yosuke blinked, pulled from his stupor by the genie’s confused tone, and he forcibly ignored the heat in his cheeks as he stammered out, “A-anyway, what about you? What’s your name?”

“Ah, I….” the genie dropped his gaze as he trailed off, hesitating for a moment before continuing. “It’s been so long since someone called me by name that I don’t remember. You can just call me Genie.”

Yosuke frowned. “That’s kinda weird though, just calling you ‘Genie’... that’d be like you just calling me ‘Person’ or something, wouldn’t it?”

The genie shrugged. “You can call me whatever you’d like, then. I don’t mind.”

Yosuke hummed in thought, before suddenly letting out a yawn. “Ugh, I dunno, I’m too tired to think. I’ll just call you partner for now and come up with something better in the morning.”

“Partner?” the genie asked curiously, watching as Yosuke made himself comfortable on the ground.

“Yeah, since you’re like… gonna help me out with being a prince and stuff. We’re working together, so… partner.” Yosuke glanced over at the genie sheepishly. “I dunno, it made sense in my head, but that’s not saying much after the past few days I’ve had. Sorry if that was weird.”

“No, it wasn’t weird at all.” The genie couldn’t help but smile as he mulled the nickname over. “I’ve never had someone call me ‘partner’ before…. I like it.”

Not to say that he deserved a nickname like that, though--the genie was amazed and beyond grateful that Yosuke apparently considered him to be his equal, thinking of it as them working together instead of him just being forced to grant whatever wishes the owner of the lamp wanted.

“Good,” Yosuke murmured, already beginning to doze off as his exhaustion caught up with him. “Night, partner.”

Though he knew he shouldn’t grow too attached, the genie still found himself wanting to do whatever he could to help Yosuke attain the happiness that someone as kind as him deserved. Unfortunately he couldn’t do much without Yosuke wishing for it--but for now, he could at least summon up a blanket and pillow to make Yosuke’s rest more comfortable as he carefully slipped the pillow under Yosuke’s sleeping head and draped the blanket over his body, before disappearing back into the lamp for the night.

* * *

The next morning, as promised, Yosuke made his wish to become a prince official, and the genie granted said wish while being sure to let him know that all he was doing was changing his appearance and his status--if he wanted to win the princess over, he would have to do it on his own.

Which would be a challenge, but hey, at least he had a shot now that he was a prince.

It took about a day on foot to make it back to town, despite the genie’s insistence that he could instantly transport them there--Yosuke needed the time to steel his nerves, not to mention that his partner was surprisingly good company. He couldn’t remember the last time he got along with someone so well before, and judging from the genie’s comments last night, Yosuke could only assume it was the same for him… or at least, Yosuke hoped that was the case, and that he wasn’t just humoring Yosuke because he felt like he had to.

They stopped for the night at the edge of town and slept outside, and once again the genie was kind enough to provide him with a fresh meal and a comfortable pillow and blanket. Yosuke briefly considered just forgetting the whole prince plan entirely and spending his life comfortably like this, before quickly shoving the weird thought aside--why would he want to spend the rest of his life wandering around when he had a chance at finding true love with a princess?

His partner woke him up early the next day and got him situated in his new, princely robes, fussing over him until he finally stepped back with a small, satisfied smile and summoned up a mirror for Yosuke to look at himself.

Yosuke sucked in a sharp breath, hardly even recognizing himself--the genie had done an incredible job of helping to clean up his appearance, trimming his hair and helping him shave (which had been nerve-wracking, but his partner had surprisingly steady hands and hadn’t even nicked him, and he thankfully hadn’t said anything about the way Yosuke’s face had heated up under his careful touch), and fitting him with the most expensive-looking clothes Yosuke had ever laid eyes on, let alone wore.

Looking at himself like this, he was actually starting to feel like the prince that he was going to pretend to be.

After giving his partner a heartfelt thank you (which the genie again seemed to be surprised by, though Yosuke couldn’t blame him--going by what he’d told him about all the other people he’d dealt with, Yosuke couldn’t imagine that he’d been on the receiving end of much genuine gratitude, and he inwardly resolved to make sure his partner knew just how much he appreciated all of his help), the genie disappeared back into the lamp, and Yosuke gathered all of his courage as he stepped foot into town.

He was careful to keep the lamp hidden away yet close to him in his robes as he made his way through the streets and towards the palace, being extra cautious with it after his partner had explained the connection between himself and the lamp to him. If someone took the lamp away, then his partner would be as good as gone--and beyond the thought of still having two unused wishes, he just didn’t like the thought of the genie having to go back to being trapped in the cycle of being forced out of the lamp, granting three wishes, and then being forced right back into the lamp to wait for the next person to summon him.

As he approached the palace gates, he unconsciously tightened his grip on his robes as he was frozen in place with a sudden fit of nerves. This was a stupid idea, no one was going to buy that he was a prince, he was going to get thrown right back in the dungeon all because he wanted to try and talk with the princess again--

“ _Yosuke, just calm down and be yourself. You’ll be fine,_ ” the genie reassured him, his voice a whisper drifting out of the lamp for Yosuke’s ears alone.

Yosuke took a breath, letting it out slowly before straightening up and adopting an air of confidence.

Right, he wasn’t going into this on his own. He had his partner to give him support, and to back him up in case anything went wrong.

He approached the guards in front of the gate, pulling out the paperwork that the genie had forged for him and asking to see the princess, and to his surprise the guards actually bought it without any traces of suspicion, allowing him entry to the palace.

Unfortunately he wouldn’t be able to have an audience with the princess for the next two days given the short notice and the prior obligations she had to attend to, but considering how Yosuke had been worried about not even making it past the gates without getting dragged back down to the dungeon, he was more than fine with waiting.

And the room they gave him? It was _way_ better than the dungeon, that’s for sure.

With a pleased sigh, Yosuke threw himself onto the large, soft bed, laughing quietly as he bounced on the mattress.

“Man, this has gotta be some kind of dream or something… I’ve never been this lucky in my life.”

He took the lamp out of his robes with a grin. “You can come out now, partner. It’s just us.”

The genie emerged from the lamp and took form in the middle of the room, looking around in intrigue.

“They got you set up in a really nice room, huh?” the genie commented, before adding with the slightest hint of a teasing smile, “Not that a prince of your status deserves any less, of course.”

“Oh ha-ha.” Yosuke sat up just enough to pick up one of the pillows and toss it in the genie’s general direction, rolling his eyes as the genie stopped the pillow midair and returned it to its rightful place on the bed. “Showoff.”

He couldn’t even pretend to be annoyed though, not when he heard the genie’s soft chuckles and saw his small smile. Instead, he grinned and gave the spot next to him on the bed a pat. “C’mon partner, you’ve gotta try this bed out. I don’t think I’ve ever laid on anything so soft in my life.”

The genie was caught off-guard by the sudden offer, visibly hesitating for a moment before approaching the bed and tentatively taking a seat on the edge.

“Oh… that _is_ soft,” he murmured with a hint of awe as he felt himself sinking into the mattress.

Yosuke reached out and gave his arm a tug, pulling him backwards onto the bed and grinning in amusement as he let out a startled yelp as he fell.

“It’s way more comfortable like this, right?” Yosuke explained as he laid next to his partner.

The genie let out a pleased sigh as he relaxed on the bed. “It is,” he agreed. “I can’t remember the last time I laid on a bed, let alone one this comfortable.”

Yosuke rolled onto his side to face his partner, his expression curious. “I’m guessing you can’t exactly fit a bed in that lamp, huh… what’s it like in there, anyway? And how do you even fit _yourself_ in there in the first place?”

The genie rolled over as well, so the two were face to face as he spoke. “I don’t really know how to describe it. It’s just… dark and empty.” He shrugged and added, “As for how I fit, it’s just magic.”

Yosuke’s brows furrowed, a concerned expression flickering across his face before it quickly shifted to determination. “Don’t stay in the lamp--at least, not any more than you have to.”

“Yosuke--”

“I mean it.” Yosuke frowned. “I don’t like the thought of anyone having to be trapped in some small, dark place. If you don’t have to stay in there, then don’t. I mean, I can use one of my other wishes to make you my royal advisor or something so you can walk around with me, and--”

“You would do that?”

The genie’s quiet, stunned question caused Yosuke to pause with a confused frown.

“Yeah? Why, is that a bad idea or something?”

“No, it’s--” The genie paused, taking a moment before sitting up and trying to explain his protest to the idea. “Yosuke, these wishes are supposed to be for _you_ , not for you to waste on me.”

“And who says it would be a waste?” Yosuke sat up as well, continuing to face his partner. “Honestly, there’s no way I’ll be able to keep up this prince thing on my own, and you seem like a smart guy--I’d feel _way_ better about this if I knew you had my back without you having to pull a magic light show just to show up and bail me out.” With a smile and a wink, he added, “The way I see it, partner, it’s a win-win for both of us. Don’t you think?”

“Yosuke….” The genie’s voice was soft as a slow, incredulous smile spread across his face. “You’re incredible.”

Yosuke blushed, caught off-guard by the praise. “I-I wouldn’t go _that_ far, I mean I’m still getting something out of this too so it’s not like it’s a completely selfless wish or anything but--”

“But you suggested it for my sake. That’s more than anyone’s ever done for me in a long, long time.”

Yosuke dropped his gaze and shrugged modestly before changing the subject. “You’ve got all that power, though--can’t you just… I dunno, do whatever you want with it?”

The genie’s expression fell as he sighed. “Unfortunately, it isn’t that simple. I can only use these powers to benefit the person holding my lamp, never for myself. If I could, I….” He trailed off before shaking his head with a weak smile. “Never mind.”

Yosuke felt his heart clenching with sympathy as he took in his partner’s expression--it wasn’t even sad, just… _defeated_ , like he’d given up hope a long time ago.

“If you had one wish, what would it be?” Yosuke asked.

The genie remained silent, and for a moment Yosuke thought he wouldn’t answer him--but just as he was about to prompt his partner for an answer, he suddenly opened his mouth to speak.

“Freedom,” he replied simply, so quietly that Yosuke had to strain just to hear him. “I wanted these powers to help people, but I don’t have the free will to do it. All I can do is grant the wishes of whoever holds the lamp, and more often than not, those people are cruel and selfish: the rich want to be richer, the powerful want more power…. Those aren’t the kinds of people I want to be helping.”

Suddenly, Yosuke felt like his wish to become a prince was the stupidest, most childish wish he could have wasted his partner’s power on.

“Partner….” Yosuke hardly even had to think as he reached out, putting his hands on top of the genie’s and giving them a light squeeze. Once the genie looked up at him in surprise, Yosuke gave him a smile and said, “If that’s what you would wish for, then my third wish is yours.”

“What-- Yosuke, no, it’s bad enough that you’re wasting one wish--”

“Honestly, partner?” Yosuke cut him off. “Out of all three wishes, I’d say my wish to become a prince was the wasteful one--but doing something to help you out? That’s definitely not a waste, especially knowing how much good you could be doing in the world.” With a sheepish look, he added, “Just… would you mind me being selfish for just a little longer? At least until I get to talk with the princess for a bit and don’t have to worry about getting my ass tossed in a dungeon again?”

The genie stared at him for a moment before letting out a soft, incredulous laugh. “You really are incredible, Yosuke,” he said, and Yosuke couldn’t help but blush at the unmistakable fondness in his tone. “You aren’t being selfish at all, and of course I don’t mind. I’ll be more than happy to help support you for as long as you need.”

Yosuke let out a quiet, relieved sigh before giving the genie a grin. “Thanks, partner. I appreciate it.”

Suddenly realizing that he was still holding his partner’s hands, Yosuke hastily let go with a nervous, embarrassed laugh, trying his best to ignore the feeling of his face growing hotter as he scrambled for something else to talk about. “Oh, uh… out of curiosity, when you were talking before, it kinda sounded like you chose to become a genie. Does that mean you weren’t always one?”

As soon as he saw his partner’s expression fall, Yosuke immediately kicked himself for sticking his foot in his mouth--but before he could retract the question, the genie responded.

“It’s a long story, but the basic point is you should be careful what you wish for.” A small, rueful smile briefly flitted across the genie’s face before his expression turned neutral. “I had a cousin, she was like a little sister to me. She was dying, and only a miracle would be able to save her--so for her sake, I performed a miracle. I went through hell and got the power I needed to save her life… except I couldn’t use the power I’d finally obtained without someone to make the wish for it. I couldn’t--” His voice cracked for a moment, before he forcibly composed himself and continued. “I couldn’t even say goodbye to her.”

“God, that’s… I’m so sorry, partner….”

Yosuke felt horrible for asking, and felt even worse for not knowing what to say or do to comfort his partner--who even knew how many years, or decades, or hell, maybe even _centuries_ the genie had been forced to keep all of that bottled up inside? Living with the knowledge that he wasn’t able to help the one person he’d wanted to help the most… Yosuke couldn’t even begin to imagine how that must have felt.

“She was the last person to ever say my name,” the genie confessed, before adding hesitantly, “I… when I told you I didn’t remember my name, that was a lie. I just haven’t had anyone who would want to call me by my name since then, and giving a stranger my name after so long felt… too personal. I’m sorry.”

“What? Partner, no, you don’t have to apologize!” Yosuke hastily assured him. “And you don’t have to tell me--”

“I want to.” The genie finally met Yosuke’s eyes, and Yosuke was stunned to silence by the small, hopeful smile on his face. “You’ve been so kind to me, kinder than anyone has ever been to me in years. I know I haven’t known you for long, and I know you could easily cast me aside at any time--”

“I wouldn’t do that!”

The genie’s expression softened at the firm denial from Yosuke, even as he continued to speak. “--but I trust you, and if there was anyone I would want to know my name, it’s you.” He took a breath, letting it out slowly before continuing. “My name… my name is Souji. Souji Seta.”

“Souji…,” Yosuke repeated, testing the name out on his tongue and smiling as his partner-- _Souji_ \--flushed lightly in response.

“It’s a bit odd hearing someone say my name after so long,” Souji murmured, rubbing the back of his head and dropping his gaze sheepishly. “And… sorry about all that before. I don’t know what came over me, but I never meant to dump all of that on you. It just… came out. You’re very easy to talk to.”

“Don’t apologize, I’m glad you got all that off your chest.” Yosuke bumped his shoulder against Souji’s with a smile as he added jokingly, “Considering how much I talked your ear off on the way here, I’d say this makes us even.”

Souji chuckled. “I’d hardly call that even, but thank you… partner.”

Now it was Yosuke’s turn to blush, caught off-guard by Souji turning his nickname around on him--though he couldn’t say he minded, far from it honestly.

“Anytime, Souji.”

* * *

Yosuke made his second wish as promised the next day, so the two of them could wander the palace halls and take in the sights together without anyone questioning Souji’s presence--and by the time his scheduled meeting with the princess arrived the following day, Yosuke had almost completely forgotten about his original goal in coming to the palace, too wrapped up in enjoying his time with Souji.

Still, he couldn’t be too disappointed as two guards interrupted one of his many long conversations with Souji to let him know that the princess was ready to meet with him--not when Souji was giving him an encouraging smile and helping make sure that he was presentable before the two of them followed the guards to another room where the princess was waiting.

Having to stammer through introducing himself as _Prince Hanamura Jiraiya of the Kingdom of Junes_ upon walking through the doors was embarrassing at best, and he was not at all pleased about the name--but it was his own fault for not being able to come up with anything else on the spot when Souji had asked upon first granting his wish, and at least the title of _Prince of Junes_ was something good now instead of the mocking name that the other kids back home used to use to scorn him and his family’s business.

The princess--Yukiko Amagi--was just as polite and kind as Yosuke remembered from their short time together, though he couldn’t bring that time up without blowing his own cover, so instead he just pretended that this was his first time meeting the princess and enjoyed the pleasant chat that he had with her.

Or at least, it _would have_ been a pleasant chat if the princess’s personal bodyguard wasn’t spending the whole time glaring at him, but he did his best not to let the guard distract him.

Once the princess excused herself to go back to her duties, Yosuke was promptly dismissed back to his guest room with the promise of another meeting tomorrow, which he was more than fine with if it meant that a girl was finally showing interest in him.

“She seemed nice,” Souji commented as they got settled in the room, summoning up a pair of comfortable clothes for Yosuke and handing them to him.

“Thanks, partner,” Yosuke replied distractedly as he began pulling off his robes with a relieved sigh, making sure to carefully set the lamp down on the bed before tossing his robes off more haphazardly and pulling on the more casual clothes. “Honestly, I’m surprised that whole meeting went as well as it did. I thought she would tell me to get lost as soon as I opened my mouth,” Yosuke joked wryly, before adding in a more tentative tone, “Do you think she liked me?”

Souji glanced over at him with a small, fond smile. “She’d be a fool not to,” he responded honestly, unable to help chuckling lightly as Yosuke blushed and glanced away in embarrassment.

“Don’t let that guard of hers hear you say that,” Yosuke joked weakly, trying to move the subject away from him so he could push aside the memory of Souji’s smile and the way his heart had fluttered in response. “She looked like she was ready to tear my head off just for looking at the princess.”

“She was just doing her job, Yosuke,” Souji replied with a touch of amusement. “I don’t think she would have actually done anything--and even if she tried, I wouldn’t have let her.”

“How do you say such embarrassing things with a straight face?” Yosuke muttered as he turned away from Souji, his face heating up once more. “A-anyway, I’m assuming that the princess wanting to see me again is a good sign, at least. I just hope she doesn’t ask any more questions about my ‘Kingdom’.”

“I think you did a good job answering her questions,” Souji praised. “I’m sure it wasn’t easy to think up those answers on the spot, and everything you said made passable sense.”

“Only _passable?_ ” Yosuke whirled back around to face Souji, his expression distressed. “What part did I mess up? Is she going to start suspecting something?”

“Yosuke, calm down. There were a few details here and there that seemed a bit vague, but nothing that would make anyone doubt you. Like I said, you did a good job.” With a reassuring smile, Souji added, “I would have stepped in to help you if I thought you didn’t have things under control, I promise.”

Yosuke let out a breath, his shoulders slumping in relief. “Alright… if you say so, partner, then I believe you. Thanks.”

Souji was about to respond when there was a sudden, sharp knock at the door, startling both him and Yosuke. The two of them exchanged a wordless glance, and within seconds Souji had swapped Yosuke’s casual clothes with his royal outfit, Yosuke had grabbed the lamp and shoved it into his robes out of view, and Souji had disappeared into the lamp moments before the door swung open, startling Yosuke so badly that the lamp nearly slid out of his robes as he jumped.

“C-can I help you?” he asked weakly, trying to gather some semblance of confidence even as the princess’s personal guard stared him down.

“I’m on to you,” she began without preamble, kicking the door shut behind her and stomping over to Yosuke before poking him in the chest hard enough to bruise, even through his layers of clothing.

“Ex--” Yosuke winced as his voice squeaked, his gaze locked on the spear in the guard’s free hand that could very easily skewer him if he said one wrong word, and he forced himself to take a breath and not panic as he tried again. “Excuse me? I’m not sure I follow.”

“You’re the guy from the marketplace! The one that tried to kidnap the princess!” the guard accused.

“I didn’t kidnap her! I--” Yosuke quickly covered his mouth, and he could practically hear Souji slapping a hand against his forehead from inside the lamp. “I-I mean--”

“I _knew_ it! I _knew_ I recognized you!” The guard pushed herself even further into Yosuke’s space, forcing him to take a nervous step back as his gaze flickered over to the spear that was angled towards him and ready to strike. “Who are you, really?!”

“I--” Yosuke paused, the lie momentarily getting stuck in his throat. Up until now, he was just playing a part, but involving something that had actually happened between him and the princess into the lie felt… _wrong_ , like the one moment that had been genuine between them--between Yosuke and Yukiko, not Prince Hanamura and the princess--would become just another part of his act. Still, he couldn’t exactly admit to not really being a prince, either, so he forced himself to continue with a fake sheepish smile. “I’m who I said I was: I’m Prince Hanamura, of the Kingdom of Junes. I sometimes sneak off into town while dressed as a commoner--I’m sure your princess can relate, since that’s where we first met.”

The guard’s expression shifted, suspicion dying down into embarrassed realization as she straightened up and pulled the spear back to her side. “Oh… oh I’m sorry, your highness. I just thought….” She shook her head slightly before continuing. “Why didn’t you tell that to the princess when you first arrived?”

“I wasn’t entirely sure how she would take the memory of our encounter, especially since I wasn’t honest with her.” Yosuke rubbed the back of his head. “And we’re getting along pretty well now, so I kind of figured we could just… have a fresh start, you know? Especially since that whole mess ended up with me getting tossed into her dungeons; I didn’t want her to feel bad about that--”

“Wait wait, hold on--what do you mean, tossed in the dungeons?” The guard looked up at him in bewilderment. “I didn’t hear anything about that!”

Yosuke’s brows furrowed. “It happened right after you took the princess back with you. I thought you were the one that gave the order.”

“No way! The princess said she didn’t want anything to happen to you; I wouldn’t have gone behind her back like that!” The guard scowled. “If you seriously got tossed in the dungeons because of that whole misunderstanding, then I’m sorry, but I wasn’t the one that made that call.” Realization flashed across her face for a moment before bitter irritation took over, and she swiftly turned on her heel as she muttered, “But I think I have an idea of who might have.”

Yosuke frowned warily. “Um, miss…?”

“Satonaka,” she called over her shoulder as she made her way towards the door.

“Satonaka, then. Who do you think got me thrown in the dungeon, if it wasn’t you?”

Satonaka paused, her hand gripping the doorknob tightly. “I think… I think it was the royal advisor. I’ve never trusted that guy, and he seems like the type of jerk to go behind my back and do something like that.” With a weak, humorless smile, she glanced over her shoulder and added, “If you do… end up with the princess, do me a favor and have that guy replaced, would you? This place would be much better off without him.”

Yosuke blushed lightly, though he couldn’t help but note the hints of pain in her voice, as if even just the thought of the princess ending up with him hurt her--and Yosuke wasn’t entirely sure if it was because she just personally didn’t like him, or if there was something more to it. Regardless, he nodded in response and watched her go, one hand slipping into his robes as soon as the door closed to take out the lamp--before jumping and quickly yanking his hand out of his robes as if burned when the door suddenly swung back open.

“Wait a second, if you were in the dungeon then how the hell did you get out?!”

Yosuke laughed nervously. “I was hoping you wouldn’t catch that…,” he muttered, before reluctantly saying, “I, uh… snuck out, and… um… I had someone from my kingdom meet me to help me leave before anyone could realize I’d gotten out.”

“Oh.” Satonaka frowned, eyeing him suspiciously. “Well, I’m not thrilled to hear that, but since you _were_ put there against the princess’s wishes… I’ll let it slide this once--but you’re on thin ice, _Prince Hanamura._ Got it?”

“Y-yes ma’am.”

“Good.”

Satonaka nodded in satisfaction before closing the door behind her for real this time, and Yosuke waited a full minute to make sure she was actually gone before finally letting out a relieved sigh.

Souji appeared next to Yosuke before he could even pull the lamp out, his expression both concerned and the slightest bit amused as he said, “Well, that… could have gone worse?”

Yosuke groaned and flopped face-first onto the bed in response.

* * *

Thankfully Satonaka had apparently not said anything to the princess about their conversation, much to Yosuke’s relief as he met with the princess for lunch the next day. As one day led into the next, Yosuke could feel his hope growing the more time that the princess agreed to spend with him--granted, their conversations could barely be considered friendly at best, and there didn’t seem to be the kind of spark that Yosuke always thought there would be when he finally got his chance to be with the princess, but… well, maybe it would come with time.

(He pointedly decided to ignore the small voice in the back of his mind that reminded him that it had taken hardly a day before he’d felt that _spark_ that he wanted with Souji. Just because they happened to click better and faster than Yosuke had with anyone else in his life, the princess included, didn’t mean anything.)

Souji continued to stay by his side as promised, occasionally offering advice but otherwise merely remaining nearby in silent support during his meetings with the princess, and only when the two of them were alone did he seem to relax, smiling and talking more freely the more time they spent together.

Unfortunately, with Souji speaking a bit more freely combined with his desire to help keep Yosuke on the right path, that meant that he was beginning to say things that Yosuke needed to hear, regardless of whether he _wanted_ to hear them or not--and the biggest subject of what had originally started as tentative debates and eventually grew into heated arguments was the subject of the lie that Yosuke was living.

Inwardly, Yosuke knew that Souji was right: while Souji had been the one to grant him the status of prince and the appearance to match, he’d also told Yosuke upfront that he needed to be himself in order to try and win the princess over--yet Yosuke found himself spilling one lie after the next in order to try and impress the princess, and it was getting to the point where even Yosuke himself was having difficulty keeping all the details straight. One wrong move would send the tower of lies that he’d built crumbling to the ground along with any chance of having his happily ever after with a beautiful, kind princess, yet he just couldn’t help himself. He’d gotten himself so deep by now that he was scared to try and tell the truth--not only because he didn’t want to get tossed in the dungeon, but because he didn’t want the princess to be disappointed when she realized that he was just a boring, pathetic guy whose greatest talent was the ability to constantly shove his foot into his mouth at any given opportunity.

So Yosuke would fight back against Souji, insisting that everything would be fine and that as long as the princess loved him in the end that’s what mattered, all while trying to ignore the look of sad disappointment that would wash over Souji’s face each time he gave in and backed down.

He almost wished Souji would just get angry with him instead. Anger would hurt in the moment, but the pain of disappointing the one guy that seemed to think Yosuke was a good person not only hurt in the moment, but also lingered long after their arguments drew to a close.

Today was no different, and Yosuke at the very least had to admit a grudging respect for Souji’s persistence as the genie brought up the same subject again after Yosuke’s latest meeting with the princess. Just like always, Yosuke let his stubbornness get the best of him as he argued against each and every valid point that Souji brought up, his temper flaring and his mouth getting ahead of him before his brain could catch up.

“I asked you to be my _advisor_ , not to run my damn life! Just _shut up_ about this already!”

Souji’s eyes narrowed, his lips pursing before he let out a long sigh, apparently finally at the end of his (what Yosuke had taken for granted to be) limitless patience. “Fine, I get it. You want me to shut up, _master?_ Your wish is my command.”

Yosuke winced. “Partner-- partner wait, hold on, I didn’t mean it--”

Souji disappeared back into the lamp, and Yosuke hastily picked it up off the bed, guilt immediately taking the place of his previous irritation.

“Partner-- Souji, c’mon, I’m sorry!” Yosuke received no response, and the guilt quickly began to eat away at him, to the point where he forced himself to dredge up his previous irritation if only to stop himself from getting sick as he huffed and shook the lamp slightly. “Come _on_ , dammit! You know I say stupid shit, and I already said I’m sorry! Stop being stubborn!”

Souji still didn’t say anything, and Yosuke scowled and tossed the lamp onto the bed.

“Fine, whatever! Stay in there and sulk, then!”

He knew fully well that he was being irrational, but he couldn’t admit it aloud--and besides, this was Souji’s fault anyway, right? Souji was the one that kept starting these arguments, even if he was doing it with Yosuke’s best interest at heart, and even if he was technically right about everything he was saying, and--

Yosuke shook his head and stormed out of the room with a scowl, as if trying to outrun his guilt.

He’d just go cool his head outside for a bit, let Souji cool his head for a bit, and then by the time he went back to his room they would be able to talk without getting heated. Yosuke would properly apologize, and Souji would probably apologize too even though they both knew that he was in the right because that’s just how Souji was, and everything would be fine, and…

… And by the time Yosuke returned to his room, the lamp was gone.

* * *

Souji felt himself being pulled out of the lamp, and he let out a frustrated sigh as he gave into the feeling and let himself take form.

“Yosuke, I--”

Souji cut off, paling as he found himself face to face with not Yosuke, but the Amagi family’s royal advisor.

“Ahh, I knew there was something off about you… Mister ‘Royal Advisor to the Kingdom of Junes’--or should I say, genie of the lamp?”

Souji tensed. “Why do you have that lamp? Yosuke--”

“Finders keepers, right? He carelessly left it lying around, and it would be a shame to let something so valuable go to waste.” The advisor leaned forward, an unsettling grin on his face as he added, “Though it must not have been very valuable to him if he left it behind so easily. He probably doesn’t need you anymore, now that he’s got the princess.”

Souji took a step back, struggling to keep his expression neutral. “That’s not… he wouldn’t….”

“But he _did_ ,” the advisor replied, his voice hardly a whisper yet his words cutting through Souji sharper than knives. “He tossed you aside now that he’s gotten his use out of you. That’s what people do, you know?”

Souji winced and dropped his gaze, forcing aside the feelings of hurt and betrayal that swelled up inside of him--Yosuke wasn’t like that, he _knew_ Yosuke wasn’t like that. True, they’d been having more disagreements lately, and perhaps Souji had been a bit too pushy with him, and maybe his reasons for being so hard on Yosuke were less for Yosuke’s own sake and more because the thought of letting some princess that didn’t even know the real Yosuke take him away hurt for reasons Souji couldn’t allow himself to dwell on, but… even despite all of that, even despite their most recent argument and Yosuke’s harsh words, he knew Yosuke wouldn’t just _get rid of_ him. Souji trusted Yosuke, and he refused to let this snake’s words slip in through his cracks and plant any more seeds of doubt than he already had.

The advisor’s grin faded into an annoyed look when Souji calmly lifted his gaze back up to face him.

“How boring,” the advisor muttered, before shaking his head with a strained, almost manic laugh. “Well, whatever. My fun is only just getting started.”

The advisor grinned, and Souji repressed a shudder.

He could only pray that whatever this twisted man wanted, it wouldn’t end up hurting Yosuke in any way.

* * *

Yosuke tore his entire room apart looking for the lamp, cursing nonstop the entire time and nearly working himself into a panic by the time he’d run out of places to check.

Why was he so _stupid?!_ He never should have let the lamp out of his sight no matter how irritated he’d been, and now Souji was gone, and--

God, Souji was _gone_.

Yosuke felt like he’d been punched in the gut from the realization, his breath leaving him as he stumbled in place.

Souji was gone, and it was all his fault, and what if he couldn’t find Souji again, what if he never got to see him again, god he never even got to give Souji the one thing he wished for even after he _promised_ him--

Yosuke leaned against the side of the bed as his legs gave out on him, and he buried his face against the sheets, feeling nauseous with guilt and worry. He told Souji that he’d help him be free, and instead he’d just forced Souji back to an eternity of being trapped in the lamp, and it probably would hurt him even more now that he’d gotten a small taste of the freedom and companionship he’d craved for so long.

A loud banging at his door startled Yosuke out of his thoughts, and he scrambled to his feet, hastily swiping his sleeve across his eyes before throwing the door open to find a distressed Satonaka. Before he could so much as open his mouth to ask her what was wrong, she grabbed his arm and forcibly pulled him along, and he yelped and stumbled to keep up.

“What-- what’s going on?!” he just barely managed to ask, taking longer than normal to get his legs to work the way he needed them to in order to keep up with Satonaka’s brisk pace.

“The princess is missing! I thought she might have been with you, but she’s not and I don’t know where else to look for her--”

“Woah, wait, hold on, are you serious?!” Yosuke paled, straightening up and quickening his own pace. “How could the princess just disappear?!”

“That’s what I want to know!” Satonaka snapped, panic clear in her gaze as she tightened her grip on her spear. “She was only by herself for a few minutes, when the advisor wanted to meet with her about--”

Satonaka paused, her eyes widening in time with Yosuke’s as they reached the same realization.

“ _That motherfucker!_ ” Satonaka exclaimed, bolting down the hallway with a vengeance, and Yosuke followed at her heels, worry for both the princess and Souji warring in his mind.

If the advisor had taken the princess, then was it possible that he’d stolen the lamp too?

The thought made Yosuke’s blood begin to boil just as much as it made his stomach turn, and he picked up his pace until he was running down the halls right by Satonaka’s side.

* * *

As soon as Satonaka threw open the doors to the throne room, the color immediately drained from both her and Yosuke’s faces at the sight before them.

The throne room was completely warped, looking like something straight out of hell itself--but that wasn’t what caught their attention.

“Partner!!” “Yukiko!!”

Yosuke’s heart dropped as he saw Souji standing beside the throne, his gaze dull and defeated and his wrists and ankles shackled to the ornate chair. He didn’t even react to the two people barging into the room, which only furthered Yosuke’s worry for him and his anger towards the advisor keeping him and the princess captive.

Unlike Souji, Yukiko’s gaze immediately shot over to Satonaka and Yosuke as soon as they entered the room, her gaze both fearful and relieved. “Chie--!!” She let out a pained yelp as she was suddenly grabbed by her hair, preventing her from running towards her personal guard. Instead, she turned to shoot a glare at her captor, who was sitting on the throne with a sneer. “Release me at once, Adachi!”

“Now why would I do that? After all, you’re mine.”

“You no good bastard--!!”

Chie charged at Adachi, only to be stopped in her tracks by a simple wave of his hand, much to both her and Yosuke’s shock.

With an exaggerated yawn, Adachi flicked his wrist, and Chie was abruptly sent flying into a wall, her body limply sliding down to the ground upon impact.

“ _Chie!!_ ” Yukiko lifted her foot and stomped down on Adachi’s foot hard in an attempt to get him to loosen his hold on her, but she couldn’t get far before Adachi rose out of his seat and waved an arm, forcibly pinning her to the wall behind him with an invisible force.

“You’re really growing up to be a little bitch, aren’t you, _princess?_ ” Adachi tsked as he watched her struggle. “I’m almost disappointed.”

Yosuke darted forward, trying to move while Adachi was distracted--but he was hardly even able to get close to the throne before his feet suddenly left the ground, and he yelped and struggled in the invisible hold keeping him suspended in midair.

“And you….” Adachi turned to face him, a mocking sneer on his face. “‘ _Prince Hanamura?_ ’ Hah! Don’t make me laugh--you’re a nobody, a pathetic little street rat who thought he could steal what was rightfully _mine_ from under my nose.”

“What the hell are you talking about?!”

“Oh, I suppose you don’t recognize me, huh?” Adachi grinned and snapped his fingers, and Yosuke’s eyes widened in recognition as a black hooded cloak appeared over Adachi’s now-hunched form. The advisor pitched his voice lower and said, “ _Recognize me now, boy?_ ”

“So _you’re_ the guy that got me out of the dungeon and made me get the lamp?!”

“Bingo~ Looks like there’s a working brain in that head of yours after all!” Adachi tossed the cloak aside with a grin. “You gave me a little scare when the cave closed up, but as long as the lamp got to me in the end, I couldn’t care less what happened to you--and now that you’ve outlived your usefulness… I think it’s time to get rid of you and that annoying guard.”

Yosuke tensed, his gaze unconsciously shifting over to meet Souji’s, and his heart dropped as he saw the grief and frustration in his partner’s eyes as he was forced to stand and silently watch as this monster of a person abused his powers.

“You can do whatever you want to me, but let partner go,” Yosuke said firmly, surprising both Souji and Adachi.

“Yosuke…,” Souji breathed out, his heart lifting even as fear and worry continued to grip him.

Yosuke really did still care about him, and Souji wasn’t going to sit by uselessly and let another person he loved die, he _couldn’t_ \--

“Ahahaha! Oh man, that’s hilarious!” Adachi clutched his sides as he laughed, the sound just as chilling as it was infuriating. Just as quickly as he started laughing, Adachi abruptly stopped, his gaze as acidic as his expression as he curled his lip in distaste. “You actually think I’m going to listen to you? I’m the _king_ now, I’m the most powerful _sorcerer_ now--I obey _no one!_ ”

He flung his arm out, and Yosuke momentarily blacked out as he was slammed backwards into the wall, only coming back to his senses from the feeling of Chie helping him up to his feet.

“I have no use for either of you nuisances in my kingdom.”

Souji’s panic grew as he saw Yosuke and Chie beginning to disappear, his eyes glowing as he desperately tried to force his magic to work no matter how much it felt like he was burning from the inside out from the strain. He had to protect them, he couldn’t lose Yosuke, he had to do _something_ \--

“ _Yosuke!!_ ”

Yosuke’s gaze met Souji’s once more, and his eyes widened at the look on his partner’s face and the glow in his eyes.

“Souji--!!”

Before Yosuke could so much as attempt to rush towards him, his vision turned black, and everything faded away.

* * *

For the second time in the past few minutes--or what felt like it, at least--Yosuke found himself returning to consciousness by Chie pulling him up to his feet.

This time, however, was a bit more frantic than the first time, and it was less “pulling him to his feet” and more “pulling him up and shoving him aside so he landed face-first on the ground”.

Yosuke groaned and pushed himself up with a grimace. “What the hell was that f--” He cut off with a yelp at the sight of the vicious-looking creature in front of him and instinctively rolled out of the way before shakily pushing himself up to his feet. “Satonaka, what the hell’s going on?!”

“How should I know?!” Chie shot back, sounding just as panicked as Yosuke felt. “That bastard advisor did some weird magic stuff, and we ended up in this forest in god-knows where with these _things_ trying to kill us! Now shut up and help me fight them, because I’m _not_ letting that asshole have his way with Yukiko!”

Yosuke nearly dropped the spear that was suddenly shoved into his hands, turning his gaze up from the weapon to the unarmed guard in alarm. “Wait, then how are you going to--”

“ **_Hi-yah!_ **”

Yosuke stared in stunned shock as Chie kicked one of the demonic, shadow-like creatures straight in the face, before quickly snapping out of it and shaking his head with a weak laugh. “Remind me never to get on your bad side,” he said wryly, tightening his grip on the spear as he turned his attention to the creatures in front of him.

He could handle himself well enough with a knife from his time on the streets, and a spear was… basically like a really, really long knife, right? He could do this.

No, it wasn’t even about whether or not he _could_ do this: he _would_ do it, he _had to_ do it. Just like Chie refused to let Adachi do what he wanted with Yukiko, Yosuke refused to let that bastard use Souji any more than he already had--and it wasn’t like he wasn’t worried about the princess either, but all his mind could focus on was Souji’s terrified, desperate expression before everything had faded away. He couldn’t let that be his last memory of Souji, and he couldn’t give up and let his promise with Souji go unfulfilled.

He would free Souji, or die trying.

Yosuke swung out at the nearest creature with a shout, taking a few swings before he started to get a feel for the weapon--and as he fought, his gaze darted around, his mind working overtime to try and figure out where they were and how they could return to the palace.

He felt a sudden tug, so subtle that he almost missed it, and instinctively reached a hand into his pocket before pulling out a single strand of glowing, silver hair.

“Souji…?” Realization hit Yosuke, and he nearly laughed in giddy relief. “Partner, you liar, you said you couldn’t use your magic for anyone other than the person holding the lamp….”

He couldn’t even begin to imagine how much effort it must have taken Souji to transport even just this single strand of hair to him against Adachi’s will, but he was more grateful for it than he could ever possibly say, especially as he saw the hair turning and pointing ahead of him as if guiding him back to its owner.

“Satonaka!” he called out, catching the guard’s attention. “I know how to get back to the palace!”

“Well what are you waiting for? Lead the way!” Chie shot Yosuke a grin, not even questioning him as he began running off and cutting down any creatures that got in their way. Instead she stuck right by his side, watching his back each time he had to pause to gather his bearings and fighting off any creatures that he missed as they worked their way through the deadly forest.

Only to find themselves in the middle of nowhere as soon as they stepped foot past the edge of the thinning greenery.

The two of them exchanged a glance, frustration and exhaustion clear in their expressions--but they continued on without protest, knowing that every second wasted was a second longer that the people they wanted so desperately to save were trapped under Adachi’s thumb.

It took far longer than either of them would have liked, but after what felt like the longest run of their lives, the palace finally came into view--though like the interior of the throne room, both the palace and the town at its base seemed warped and twisted almost beyond recognition, with guards and shadow-like creatures patrolling every last inch of the area.

Yosuke cursed under his breath, knowing that there was no way he and Chie would be able to fight their way through all of that--they had barely managed to make it through the forest in one piece, and were completely drained from both the fighting and the long distance that they traveled without rest.

Chie tugged on Yosuke’s sleeve, quietly gesturing for him to follow her, and he nodded and let her take the lead, trusting that she would know the best way to make it into the palace without being discovered.

“Yukiko and I used to use this passageway when we were kids,” she explained quietly as they pushed aside some shrubbery and began descending down a hole that was just barely big enough for Yosuke to slip through. The hole led to an underground passage, which they followed cautiously, wary of anything--human or otherwise--jumping out and trying to kill them.

Thankfully, luck was finally on their side, and they managed to make it into the palace in one piece--and while the interior of the palace was just as difficult to recognize as the exterior, Yosuke strode forward without care, letting Souji’s magic guide him instead of focusing on trying to figure out where each room was supposed to be, until they finally reached what had once been the throne room.

Now the room was impossibly huge, an eerie red fog tinting the air as mounds of gold and jewels littered the floor--and in the center of it all was Adachi, reveling in his newfound riches with a manic grin.

More importantly, however, were Souji and Yukiko, who were both--aside from being shackled and looking both disgusted with their captor and frustrated by their powerlessness--still alright, much to Yosuke and Chie’s relief.

The two snuck into the throne room while Adachi was distracted, and the first to notice them was Souji, who just barely managed to keep an impassive look on his face despite his overwhelming relief. Yosuke put a finger to his lips when he caught Souji’s eye, and Souji gave a small, almost imperceptible nod in response, trusting that he would be careful.

Yosuke and Chie darted from one pile of gold to the next, keeping as quiet as physically possible as they tried to stay out of Adachi’s sight while moving closer to the throne.

Chie had almost managed to reach Yukiko before she was suddenly hit with a blast of air, causing her to let out a pained shout as she was sent flying backwards.

“You’re ridiculously persistent, you know that?” Adachi commented, his expression annoyed as he approached Chie’s prone form and gave her a rough kick in the side. “That’s not an attractive quality in a woman, you know. How about you just give up, and maybe I’ll consider keeping you around with your precious princess?”

“And how about you… screw off, you creep…!” Chie forced out between gritted teeth, glaring vehemently up at him.

Adachi sighed. “Suit yourself.”

He stepped on one of her injuries and gave her another kick before walking away, his expression bored. “If she survived, then I’m guessing the street rat must still be around here somewhere too--ahh, there he is.”

Yosuke cursed as he felt Adachi’s invisible grip on him, lifting him off the ground once more and leaving him helplessly dangling in midair even as he glared daggers at the advisor.

“I’m almost impressed, you know. Not many people can survive an encounter with Shadows, let alone escape a forest filled with them--and you even found your way back here… if I didn’t know better, I’d say you had some help.”

Adachi’s tone was lighthearted, but his smile was razor sharp and cold, especially as he turned his gaze over to Souji and received a defiant stare in response.

“Well, whatever. If the Shadows couldn’t kill you, then I guess that just means I’ll have to kill you myself.”

Yosuke wracked his brain for something, _anything_ that could turn this situation around--and suddenly, an absolutely insane idea hit him, one that could potentially blow up in their faces if it didn’t go as Yosuke hoped it would.

At this point, though, it was worth the risk.

“Go ahead and kill me,” Yosuke challenged, plowing on before Souji could so much as open his mouth in protest, “but that’s not going to change the fact that you’re not as powerful as you think you are.”

Adachi raised an eyebrow, looking a cross between amused and intrigued. “Oh? And what do you mean by that?”

“Let’s face it, even if you _do_ kill me, that doesn’t change the fact that partner beat you: you have all that power, and he still managed to one-up you and help me out. So go ahead and have fun throwing your weight around, acting like the most powerful guy in the universe or whatever--and have fun sleeping with one eye open while you’re at it, knowing that partner could take you down at any time.”

Souji shot him a panicked look, as if silently asking _what the_ **_hell_ ** _are you saying?!_ , but one look into Yosuke’s eyes helped rein in his doubt.

Yosuke’s gaze simply said _trust me_ \--and Souji did, without question.

“Hm… I see, you do have a point.” A slow grin worked its way onto Adachi’s face as he let out a laugh. “Yeah, I think I know how to fix this. I have one wish left, after all--why not dream big and make it count?”

Adachi turned to face Souji, who tensed in response as he narrowed his eyes.

“I want infinite power, eternal life--I wish for you to make me into a genie!”

Souji took a shaky breath, letting it out slowly before gathering his power to grant Adachi’s final wish.

“Your wish is my command,” Souji replied, as the power flowed out of his body and surrounded Adachi.

Adachi let out a quiet, incredulous chuckle that gradually built up into a hysterical laugh as he felt the overwhelming power flooding through him.

“Yes… yes, this is it, this is the power I wanted!! Finally, I-- what’s happening?!”

Adachi’s grin immediately faded into a bewildered expression as he looked down at his quickly-fading body.

“Sorry, did we forget to remind you about the whole ‘stuck in a lamp’ part of being a genie?” Yosuke remarked with a sharp grin as his feet hit the ground, Adachi’s power no longer affecting him now that he couldn’t use it for his own purposes.

“ _You--!!_ ”

Adachi hardly got the chance to shoot Yosuke a murderous glare before he disappeared, a dark red lamp dropping to the floor in place of where he had stood--and it was only when Souji disappeared as well that Yosuke snapped himself out of his relieved stupor and rushed over to Souji’s lamp, quickly snatching it off the ground where it had fallen alongside Adachi’s.

As soon as he touched the lamp, Souji wasted no time in reappearing and wrapping his now-freed arms around Yosuke in relief--relief that he was back by Yosuke’s side, relief that Yosuke was safe, relief that Yosuke’s dangerous plan had worked… Souji hadn’t felt this overwhelmed with emotion since he’d lost his cousin, except now instead of grief weighing down his heart, he could feel his heart lifting with joy.

Yosuke couldn’t even muster up the slightest bit of embarrassment as he hugged Souji back, feeling too elated to think about anything other than the fact that his partner was finally safe and back with him. Eventually he forced himself to pull back, but only just enough for him to properly face Souji as he said, “I’m so sorry, partner. This was all my fault--”

Souji moved a hand to press a finger to Yosuke’s lips, gently silencing him. “It’s in the past. All that matters is that everything worked out in the end.”

Yosuke still felt a bit guilty, but he wasn’t about to argue with Souji on the matter--he’d had more than enough of arguing with his partner by now, and that was the last thing he wanted to do after finally reuniting with him. He was about to say as much when he belatedly became aware of another voice in the room, and only then did he remember that they weren’t alone.

“Chie! Chie, please, wake up…!”

Yosuke turned his gaze over to Yukiko and Chie, alarmed by the panic in the princess’s voice, before quickly looking back at Souji.

“Partner--”

“I’m on it,” Souji immediately replied, pulling away from Yosuke in order to move over to Chie’s side.

Yosuke followed Souji, watching as he healed her injuries as well as removed the shackles still strapped to Yukiko’s wrists and ankles, before letting out a quiet, relieved sigh along with Souji as soon as Chie’s eyes began to open.

Yukiko threw herself at Chie in a hug, and as Chie hugged Yukiko back, Souji and Yosuke exchanged a wordless glance and quietly left the room to give them some privacy.

“So,” Yosuke began with a sheepish laugh once they were outside the room, “I think I finally know at least part of the reason why I was never making any progress with the princess.”

“Are you giving up on her, then?” Souji asked distractedly, pouring his energy into undoing what Adachi’s magic had done to the palace and the town.

“... Yeah,” Yosuke reluctantly replied, watching as the palace halls returned to normal around him. “It’s probably for the best, anyway.”

“Why’s that?”

“Well… I mean, aside from her and Satonaka obviously… _you know_ ,” Yosuke began awkwardly, looking everywhere but at Souji as he forced himself to continue, “thanks to this whole mess, I kind of realized where my priorities lie.”

Souji’s brows furrowed in confusion as he looked over at Yosuke. “What do you mean?”

“I, uh… I really should’ve been worried about the princess--and I was, but… honestly, I just couldn’t stop thinking about you the whole time.” Yosuke felt like his face was burning, but he continued to speak regardless, knowing that Souji deserved to hear the truth. “Starting right from when I realized your lamp was missing, I just… I couldn’t stop panicking, thinking that I’d never get to see you again, and that you’d be trapped and might never get the chance to be free, and… and I was worried that I would never get the chance to apologize to you for acting like a jerk. I didn’t want your last memory of me to be me yelling at you for trying to help.”

“Yosuke….” Souji reached out with a soft expression, taking Yosuke’s free hand in his own and giving it a gentle, reassuring squeeze. “Thank you. I don’t think I could ever thank you enough for all you’ve done for me.”

“Pretty sure that’s supposed to be my line, partner,” Yosuke replied with a quiet, embarrassed laugh. “But I’m glad.”

They stood in silence for a moment, simply enjoying each other’s presence and the quiet peace of the moment, before Yosuke suddenly perked up in realization.

“Oh, that’s right! Before anything else crazy happens, I want to use my third wish for you right now.”

Souji’s eyes widened. “Right now? Are you sure? And-- Yosuke, you know you can use that wish for anything at all, you don’t have to--”

“Souji,” Yosuke cut him off, smiling as Souji quickly fell into a flustered silence from the use of his name, “I want to do this, more than I’ve wanted anything in my life.”

“Yosuke….” Souji searched Yosuke’s expression, wanting to make absolutely sure that this was what he wanted, before finally giving him a nod.

“Souji… I wish for you to be free.”

In an instant, Souji could feel the difference, as if the invisible chains binding him had suddenly broken off--but it only fully hit Souji once he saw the lamp in Yosuke’s hand shatter in a burst of light, leaving no remains behind.

Souji continued to stare in shock at Yosuke’s hand even after the lamp was long gone, and he only lifted his gaze at the sound of Yosuke’s voice.

“How do you feel? Are you alright?”

The concern in Yosuke’s expression was almost overwhelming, and all he could manage around the lump in his throat was a nod--which thankfully seemed to be enough to shift Yosuke’s expression from worry to excitement.

“So, now that you’re free, what do you wanna do first?”

Souji felt a small, incredulous smile work its way onto his face at the reminder that he was _free_ , he could do _whatever he wanted_ now.

And he knew exactly what he wanted to do, more than anything else.

He reached out to cup Yosuke’s face in his hands as he leaned forward, giving Yosuke just enough time to pull back if he wanted to--which he apparently didn’t, since he made no attempt to move away as Souji pressed their lips together in a heartfelt kiss.

“That,” Souji breathed out, grinning at the sight of Yosuke’s bright blush and stunned expression, “is what I want to do first.”

Yosuke stared at Souji, taking a moment to process what had just happened, before a grin split across his face and quiet laughter bubbled up. “Alright, that’s one way to celebrate your freedom. What next, then?”

Souji chuckled as he reached out to wrap his arms around Yosuke, leaning in for another kiss as he murmured, “I can think of a few ideas.”

As Yosuke met Souji halfway, he couldn’t help but muse with some amusement how far off this was from the plan he’d had in mind for his life: he no longer needed to be a fake prince, the princess he wanted to win over had already been won over by her guard, and he’d somehow managed to not only fall for a powerful, kind, and unfairly attractive genie, but had also somehow gotten lucky enough that said genie fell for him in return.

It wasn’t the traditional happily ever after he’d originally had in mind, but he’d take it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: Adachi would make a great Jafar  
> Also me: Fuck I don't know how to write Adachi I made a mistake why did I do this


	6. Day Six: Arcana Swap

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ngl I'm not even sure if this fits the prompt or not and I know it's super short compared to the other ones but after writing 13k for yesterday's prompt I kind of burnt myself out lmao;;

“ _Be careful, guys! I’m getting strange readings on that Shadow!_ ”

Souji nodded and tightened his grip on his sword, calling out orders to the rest of his team in order to buy some time for Rise to scan the strange, new Shadow that they had gone to investigate in Naoto’s dungeon.

It seemed as if the battle was going smoothly: the Shadow--a floating, robed figure with an obscured face and a crystal ball in its hands--was sturdy but not particularly powerful, seeming to be more interested in debuffs and ailments than causing actual damage. However, Rise’s warning remained in the back of Souji’s mind--and it was the only thing that prepared him enough to brace himself when the Shadow fixed its gaze on him, a ring of tarot cards surrounding both him and Yosuke.

“ _Senpai! Yosuke-senpai! Be careful, I can’t tell what kind of attack that is!_ ”

Souji and Yosuke remained tense as the cards whirled around them like a roulette, before slowing to a stop.

“The Magician…?” Souji murmured, his brows furrowed in wary confusion, and a quick glance over at Yosuke showed that the card that had stopped in front of him was the Fool.

Realization hit Souji seconds before light washed over him, and suddenly his head felt light, with only one foreign yet familiar presence inside him.

Yosuke, on the other hand, had immediately reached up to grip his head with a pained grimace, his eyes wide in bewildered confusion.

“ _What-- that’s impossible!_ ” Souji could feel Rise’s Persona scanning him and Yosuke, and he had an idea of what she would find even before she voiced it aloud. “ _Senpai and Yosuke-senpai, they… their Personas are switched!_ ”

“The tarot cards, they stopped on mine and Yosuke’s arcanas,” Souji added, quickly making his way over to Yosuke’s side and putting a hand on his shoulder as he turned his attention over to him. “Yosuke, are you okay?”

“Partner, do you seriously put up with this all the time…? God, there’s so _many_ of them….”

Souji shrugged weakly. “You get used to it. Maybe you should pull back--”

“No way.” Yosuke straightened up with a stubborn frown. “If you can deal with it, then so can I.”

Souji let out a quiet sigh. “Yosuke….” Upon seeing that Yosuke wasn’t going to back down, he reluctantly relented and said, “Fine, but don’t push yourself. If it’s too much, then let me know.”

Yosuke’s expression shifted to a grin as Souji gave in. “You got it, partner.”

“ _The effects should wear off after you guys defeat that Shadow,_ ” Rise added. “ _But will you guys be able to fight like that? You don’t have your usual Personas…._ ”

Souji cracked a smile. “I don’t think that will be too much of a problem.”

He felt for the Magician’s tarot, crushing it in his grip once it appeared in front of him. “ _Susano-o!_ ”

Yosuke’s Persona appeared behind Souji, which was an odd sight in and of itself--but despite the Persona not belonging to him, it seemed perfectly at ease by his side.

Despite the weirdness of the situation, Yosuke couldn’t help but match Souji’s smile with one of his own, realizing what his partner had meant by not being a problem. Yosuke’s Persona was a part of him, so of course fighting by Souji’s side was just as natural for his Persona as it was for Yosuke himself.

“Can’t let you have all the fun, partner,” Yosuke said airily, searching with some difficulty through the different Personas temporarily taking residence in his mind for the one Persona he knew he would feel comfortable fighting alongside. Once he found it, he summoned forth the Fool’s tarot and cut through it with just as much ease as his own. “ _Izanagi!_ ”

He could feel the odd contradiction of a connection and a detachment as Izanagi took form: Izanagi wasn’t a part of him, but was still closely tied with him just as Souji himself was, providing a different yet recognizable feeling of comfort and familiarity.

One glance was all that needed to be shared between the two of them before they moved in unison, rejoining the fight with their friends to back them up.

* * *

“Y’know, I didn’t think it was possible for you two to be any more in sync than you already are,” Chie commented once the Shadow disappeared and the effects of its attack wore off, her expression clearly impressed. “I mean, I’m not too surprised that Souji-kun could adapt to using someone else’s Persona, but I never would’ve thought Yosuke could pull it off too.”

Yosuke wanted to get offended, but he could tell it wasn’t a personal jab--Souji was the only one in their group who was used to using a bunch of different Personas, so it really _wasn’t_ too surprising that Souji had adjusted so quickly. Yosuke, on the other hand, had never used a Persona aside from Susano-o (or Jiraiya, but they were pretty much the same thing), so he felt justified in feeling a bit proud of himself for being able to use someone else’s Persona without tripping up.

Even though he had a feeling it was only because it was Souji’s Persona that he was using.

“It was a bit weird, but not too hard,” Yosuke replied with a shrug. “If I’d tried fighting with a random one of Souji’s Personas then I probably would’ve had some trouble, though.”

“Why’s that?” Yukiko asked, and the rest of the group seemed to echo her curiosity as they turned to look at him, Souji included.

Yosuke rubbed the back of his head nervously, a bit flustered as he was suddenly put on the spot. “Well, uh… I dunno how to explain it, but like… I guess ‘cause I don’t know all those other Personas as well as I know Izanagi? I kinda got the feeling the other ones wouldn’t have been as cooperative--and Izanagi just felt more… I dunno, natural to use, or something. Probably because I was around back when Souji first got him, so I’m more used to seeing him than the other ones that Souji keeps swapping through.”

Souji hummed in thought. “That makes sense. The other Personas that I have all have their own… erm… _unique_ personalities, so handling them can be a bit difficult at times, even for me.” With a concerned look, he added, “How’s your head feeling?”

“A lot better,” Yosuke replied with a sheepish chuckle, absentmindedly rubbing the side of his head where the pounding in his temples had finally died down. “Seriously partner, I’ve got a whole new respect for you after that. Though…,” he trailed off, eyeing Souji hesitantly as he continued to speak, “there’s one thing I, uh, wanted to ask you.”

“Hm?”

“When I was looking through your Personas, I, uh… how do I say this….”

Souji’s brows furrowed. “My Personas? What about them?”

Yosuke blushed lightly, an odd expression crossing his face. “There was one that was kinda… um… a bit weirder than your other ones, like _way_ weirder, and I know your Personas are extensions of you--”

Souji abruptly turned and began walking back towards the stairs. “I think we’ve explored enough for today, let’s start heading back.”

“Oh no you don’t, I want to know what was with that Persona--”

“Would you look at that, suddenly I can’t hear anything.”

“Souji, get back here-- you’re not getting out of this conversation, dammit-- _Souji why did you have a green tentacle dick on a chariot?!_ ”


	7. Day Seven: Relationship Reveal

It took Souji almost two and a half weeks to convince Yosuke to finally come clean to their friends about their shift from partners to _partner_ -partners, and even with Souji’s constant reminders that their friends wouldn’t think any different of them for it, Yosuke couldn’t help but panic at even just the thought of the conversation that was to come.

Sitting outdoors at the Junes food court was not helping Yosuke’s jitters any, though he could at least blame his fidgeting on the cold February weather that was seeping into his body. He and Souji had both agreed that if they were going to have this talk with their friends, they might as well have it at their headquarters, especially since the food court tended to be fairly empty in these winter temperatures.

While he and Souji waited for their friends to arrive, Yosuke brought his hands up to his face and lightly huffed a breath into them, rubbing them to try and keep warm.

“Maybe we should’ve just met up somewhere inside--” Yosuke began, only to cut off with a strangled noise and a heavy blush as Souji took his hands in his own and rubbed them for him. “Dude, knock it off, they’re gonna be here any second!”

“Yosuke, calm down.” Souji eyed his boyfriend in amusement, giving his hands a light squeeze before reluctantly letting go. “Everything’s going to be fine, I promise--and you and I both know that you would be freaking out even more if we did this somewhere inside. At least out here, we won’t have to worry about someone overhearing us with how empty it is.”

Yosuke let out a long breath, crossing his arms against his chest and keeping his hands under them, both for warmth and to make sure Souji couldn’t grab them again and give their relationship away before they could even say anything.

“I guess,” Yosuke conceded reluctantly, before tensing as he heard a bunch of familiar voices getting closer. “Oh shit, they’re almost here, Souji I changed my mind let’s just keep quiet about this and--”

Souji cut Yosuke off with a quick kiss, glancing behind him to make sure that the group hadn’t gotten close enough to spot them yet.

“Yosuke,” he said slowly, keeping his voice as level as possible, “they’re our friends. They’re going to be happy for us.”

“Yeah, maybe after Kanji kicks my hypocritical ass,” Yosuke muttered.

Souji gave Yosuke a sympathetic pat on the shoulder, shifting so there was just enough space between them not to be suspicious as the group approached and began taking their seats at the table.

“So what’s this about, Senpai?” Rise asked once everyone had made themselves comfortable. “You said you had something important to tell us?”

Souji nodded. “It’s about Yosuke and I,” he began, noticing the glances that his friends shot each other but not thinking anything of it in the moment. Instead, he focused on plowing forward, mainly for Yosuke’s sake--he had a feeling if he dragged things out for too long, Yosuke might actually jump out of his seat and run away to avoid the upcoming conversation. “We’re dating now.”

There was silence in the wake of Souji’s blunt confession, and Yosuke dreaded looking up at his friends, unsure of what kind of expressions they would be wearing. Yet when he forced himself to glance up anyway, he was beyond shocked to find amused grins on their faces, as if they were all in on some kind of joke that Yosuke wasn’t privy to.

Apparently Souji was just as out of the loop, judging from his pinched brows, but before he or Yosuke could say anything, Chie finally broke the silence.

“Well _duh_ , took you guys long enough.” And as if that wasn’t enough of a shock, she added, “So, who confessed first? C’mon, give us the details!”

Yosuke blushed and sputtered, and even Souji looked a bit flustered from their expectant gazes--though he figured, at least, that this meant they were all perfectly okay with his and Yosuke’s relationship.

“I don’t see what’s so important about which of us confessed first, but if you really want to know--”

“ _Partner!_ ” Yosuke whined. “You don’t have to tell them! It’s none of their business anyway!”

“--it was Yosuke,” Souji finished with a light blush on his face, though it was worth his slight embarrassment as he watched the adorable sight of Yosuke hiding his bright-red face in his hands.

As soon as the words left his mouth, the table quickly fell into chaos.

“Hell yeah, _pay up!_ ” Kanji exclaimed, jumping out of his seat and pointing at Chie, Yukiko, and Teddie as he exchanged high-fives with a grinning Rise, while Naoto sat back in her seat with an unsurprised yet satisfied smile of her own.

Chie, meanwhile, was grumbling as she dug into her pocket for her wallet. “I can’t _believe_ it!” she groused. “How did _Yosuke_ confess first?!”

“I know, I’m just as surprised…,” Yukiko murmured, taking out her own wallet. “I thought for sure it would be Souji.”

“Sensei, I’m beary disappointed in you,” Teddie said with a shake of his head, even as he reluctantly pulled out a few bills and placed them in Rise’s outstretched hand.

Souji and Yosuke both stared at the exchange in bewildered shock, before Yosuke finally found his voice--though it was several octaves higher in distress. “You guys were _betting on us?!_ ”

“Well, at first we were going to bet on how long it would take you two to confess, but we all agreed that it would just make more sense to change it to who would confess first, since there was no guarantee that either of you would even confess before the year was up,” Yukiko explained, as if that would make Souji and Yosuke’s embarrassment any better.

“How long were you-- wait hold on a second, _Teddie did you bet against me?!_ ”

Teddie let out a dramatic sigh. “Yosuke, Yosuke, Yosuke. Don’t you realize you’re doing this all wrong? Sensei was supposed to sweep you off your feet with a romantic confession, and you, with the heart of a fair maiden, were supposed to swoon into his arms before returning his feelings of undying love--”

“That’s it, I’m extending all of your shifts for the next month! No, the next _year!_ ” Yosuke snapped, his face bright red, before tuning out Teddie's subsequent whining and reluctantly shifting his gaze over to Kanji. “And… you seriously bet on me too?” His voice lowered slightly, genuine regret working its way onto his face as he spoke. “After all the shit I put you through, honestly I thought you’d be giving me the hardest time about all this.”

Kanji waved him off and gave him a grin. “Eh, ‘s water under the bridge--but you’ve officially given up your right to give me any more shit after this, got it?”

Yosuke relaxed slightly, a grateful smile working its way onto his face. “Yeah, that’s fair.” Rubbing the back of his neck, he tentatively asked, “But, uh, seriously… why me? I mean, with how I acted, I wouldn’t think _anyone_ would put their money on me confessing at all--not that I’m happy that you guys turned our relationship into a betting pool,” he added with an embarrassed grumble.

“Seemed pretty obvious to me.” Kanji shrugged. “I mean, Senpai’s been makin’ heart eyes at you practically since we first met--figured if he hadn’t said anything by then, he was probably just waitin’ for you to make the first move.”

Souji blushed heavily, caught off-guard as he was called out by Kanji of all people--he thought he’d done a good enough job keeping his feelings from showing, and Yosuke had been genuinely surprised to hear that he returned his feelings, but… well, maybe he hadn’t been hiding them as well as he thought. “I wasn’t making _heart eyes_ at him,” he protested weakly.

Rise giggled. “Senpai, you’re not fooling anyone--honestly, you were so head over heels for Yosuke-senpai, it was both adorable and a little frustrating to watch. I was hoping I might be able to win you over before Yosuke-senpai stole you away, but….” Her smile softened. “I can’t be too disappointed, not when I know you two will make each other happy.”

“Head over heels, huh?” Yosuke teased, nudging Souji and grinning as he watched his partner’s blush darken.

“Oh don’t even go there, Yosuke, you were just as bad as him!” Chie leaned forward with a mischievous grin. “Mister ‘I tripped and fell straight into a garbage can when Souji-kun smiled and called me partner’.”

Yosuke glared in a poor attempt to cover up his embarrassment. “That was _one time!_ ”

Souji coughed into his hand pointedly, and Yosuke groaned.

“Okay fine, _two_ times--shut _up_ Chie, stop laughing!!”

As Yosuke bickered with Chie, Souji turned his attention over to Yukiko and Naoto.

“What about you two?” he asked, figuring if they’d already gotten this deep into the conversation, he might as well hear out all of his teammates’ reasonings for their choices.

“Oh, well I just figured you seem like the type to be straightforward about your feelings, so I always thought you would be the first to confess,” Yukiko admitted, before sheepishly adding, “I do also admit that with how Yosuke-kun was acting after the bathhouse, it was hard to picture him as the one to make the first move.”

“Exactly!” Chie butted in, huffing. “That was _totally_ unfair, making us think one thing and then turning things around at the last minute.”

“Well _excuse_ me for not planning out my sexuality crisis around you winning your bet,” Yosuke grumbled, his irritation ebbing slightly as Souji gave his leg a gentle squeeze under the table.

“What about you, Naoto?” Souji asked, turning the conversation over to the detective in order to avoid another bickering session between Yosuke and Chie. “What was your reasoning?”

“Well, Senpai, if I may be blunt… you have a tendency to err on the side of caution more often than not, which I could see was holding you back from pursuing a romantic relationship with Yosuke-senpai. You seemed to be reluctant to risk taking the next step in your current relationship for fear of disturbing the status quo, and fear of losing what you had already worked so hard to attain,” Naoto explained. “On the other hand, Yosuke-senpai, while also prone to overanalyzing certain matters, had less to risk by being the first to broach the topic: even if you hadn’t returned his feelings, I believe he was at the very least secure in his knowledge that you would never let such a thing interfere with your friendship with him, as you had already admitted to not returning several other people’s affections while still maintaining an amicable relationship with them. Ergo, Yosuke-senpai seemed to be the most likely choice for who would confess first.”

Before either Souji or Yosuke could formulate some sort of reply to Naoto clearly and concisely breaking down both of their thought processes in the way that only a prodigy detective could, she gave Souji a small, teasing smile and added, “I suppose in simpler terms, I could say… Senpai has been 'making heart eyes’ at Yosuke-senpai for so long, that it seemed obvious that his reasoning for not having already confessed to Yosuke-senpai was due to him waiting for Yosuke-senpai to take the first step.”

Now it was Souji’s turn to hide his flushed face in his hands as he let out a quiet groan, his embarrassment growing as everyone laughed.

Still, despite the embarrassment of everyone (sans Yosuke, apparently) having known about his crush on Yosuke this entire time, Souji couldn’t help but smile at the feeling of warm encouragement coming from the close-knit group sitting around the table.

Yosuke moving one of his hands to rest on Souji’s leg--just as Souji had done for him earlier--made Souji’s smile widen and his heart swell, and he moved his hands off of his face as he reached down to put one hand on top of Yosuke’s.

He grinned as he felt Yosuke entwining their fingers together, laughing softly as Yosuke shot him an embarrassed look--but even when Chie continued to lightly tease them and Teddie began asking if they’d “scored” with each other yet, Yosuke never once pulled his hand away, and that combined with the happy smiles from all his friends meant the world to Souji.

Judging from the hints of a smile tugging at the corners of Yosuke’s lips, Souji knew without a single word passing between them that his partner felt the same.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that marks the end of Souyo Week! ^^ Thank you so, _so_ much to everyone that kudo'd, commented, bookmarked, and even just popped in to take a peek! <3 I only ever wrote one other P4 fic before this so I wasn't entirely sure if I'd be able to pull the entire week off, and I know some of the prompts came out better than others, but I really appreciate all the love and support everyone gave! It really helped give me the push to see the week through to the end ;u; So thanks again!!


End file.
